The Potter Children
by PinkBlossom789
Summary: What if Snape survived Nagini's attack and lived? What if he still teaches at Hogwarts? What happens when he is forced to encounter all three Potter children during each of their seven years at Hogwarts?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Dumbledore is also alive in this fanfiction. That's the other only non-canon change I've made. This is my first story, so any feedback is welcome. I'm looking for constructive criticism, and if there's something you'd like to see happen, let me know!

Snape sat at the head table, searching the crowd of first years, many of whom stopped pointing at him with excitement once they were met with his cruel gaze.

"What is the blasted child supposed to look like?" he snapped at Flitwick, who was to his right.

Like all the other teachers, Flitwick seemed amused by how on edge Snape was about this particular sorting ceremony. "Severus, I'm sure we will find out soon enough." Snape thought he could hear some poorly suppressed laughter among the staff.

Then he heard Minerva call out the name he had been bitterly anticipating.

"Potter, James!"

Snape straightened in his chair. He could sense right away that this boy was the epitome of mischief and arrogance, and Hogwarts was going to have to deal with him for seven years! He walked with an air of confidence up to the Sorting Hat, even shoving a few other students on his way. He turned around and directed a charming smile toward the rest of the students who were situated at the long house tables as they began whispering and pointing at him eagerly.

As he approached the stool, it became more and more apparent that he was almost the spitting image of his father and grandfather, with his messy jet black hair. He had inherited warm brown eyes from the Weasley side of the family, making him look more like the original James Potter than even Harry Potter had.

Right before the hat was placed on his head, he made eye contact with Fred Weasley, a troublesome second year, and grinned. They both gave each other the thumbs up.

It seemed that this hadn't gone unnoticed by the rest of the staff, judging by the fatigued sighs coming from the head table.

"Those two are bound to team up at some point to cause the type of mayhem we've been trying to keep at bay for years!" Snape whispered furiously.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the Sorting Hat shouted out.

"No surprises there," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling, as if the old man thought it amusing that yet another troublemaker had been admitted to Hogwarts.

"I won't be getting any rest this year. Just look at the boy's name! James Sirius Potter!" Snape spat. "Could Potter not think of anything better to do than name the brat after the two most arrogant Gryffindors to grace these halls? Ha! He, along with his blasted cousin, Fred Weasley, was destined to bring this school down from day one with a name like that!"

A while later, halfway through the feast, James Sirius Potter approached the staff table. However, Snape was not fooled by the innocent smile that he showed them all, since he was all too familiar with it from the days of the Marauders.

Dumbledore gazed down at him through his spectacles, smiling at him kindly. "Hello, James. To what pleasure do we owe this little visit?"

_Pleasure? You mean displeasure, _thought Snape.

To his alarm, the young menace began to eye Snape with an all too familiar smirk playing at his lips as he told the headmaster, "Well, I was wondering if maybe Professor Snape and I could have…a little chat? Over some tea, of course," he added with a smirk, never taking his eyes off of Snape. His voice was laced with what was obviously fake politeness, and there was a definite undertone of mockery.

What in the name of Merlin? Something was going on here. This had been the last thing Snape had ever expected to hear from a Potter. He was going to get to the bottom of this and figure out exactly what was going on.

But of course Dumbledore felt much differently about this than Snape. His eyes now twinkling uncontrollably, he responded, "Yes, yes! Wouldn't that be _wonderful_, Severus?" Dumbledore turned around to face Snape. Before waiting for an answer, however, he turned back to James and said, "How about tomorrow right after classes? I shall leave you two alone in my study to chat. I find that it has a rather great atmosphere for this sort of thing."

Snape immediately turned towards Dumbledore. It seemed the meddlesome fool _also _had some sort of trick up his sleeve! This was very suspicious. After all, why did this need to occur in the headmaster's office, instead of Snape's _own_ office?

Dumbledore asked James, "If you don't mind me asking, is there a particular reason why you've asked me about this instead of Professor Snape, my boy?"

'_My boy?'_ Snape thought. _Dumbledore's already striking up familiarities with Harry Potter's little menace. He's going to favor him and let him get away with everything, just like he did with Harry bloody Potter._

"Well, Professor, from what I've heard, I think he's more likely to listen to you than me."

With that, James ran back to the Gryffindor table.

The nerve of that child! He hadn't directly addressed Snape once, even though he'd been discussing him right in front of him!

"This is certainly going to be an eventful year with young James around," Slughorn piped up.

Yes, this was certainly going to be an eventful year.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: What do you guys think of this story so far? I appreciate the feedback I've already received, so thanks!

"I absolutely will not tolerate anymore nonsense from these students this year! If the Potter boy tries anything in class, I will not hesitate to demand his expulsion! With the trouble-making family he comes from, he obviously hasn't been taught right from wrong, and therefore someone needs to put him in his place -" Snape ranted the next morning at breakfast, but then he was swiftly cut off by McGonagall.

"Honestly, Severus! You've been complaining for twenty minutes straight, and I can't take it anymore. Do you honestly think that the rest of us aren't worried by what state the school will be in by the end of the week with Potter around?"

Frustrated, Snape sighed. "Minerva, the boy is targeting me! I have the most reason to worry! Surely you've deduced that from the conversation he had last night with Dumbledore?"

"Well, yes. That _is _rather suspicious, if I do say so myself." She sighed. "At least he and Fred Weasley will not be in the same class. Thank the heavens that they are a year apart."

The bell rang, and with a feeling of dread, Snape looked down at his schedule and realized he was filling in for Slughorn's first class that day, although Slughorn would be teaching all classes after that. This meant that he had the first year Gryffindors, and therefore James, in his first class of the year. "Minerva!"

She turned around. "Yes, Severus?"

"You are the one in charge of this year's class schedules, are you not?"

She nodded and said, "We think it best for you to deal with Potter during his first class of the year, in hopes that perhaps you'll be able to straighten him out before the rest of the staff has to deal with him."

This was absurd, and he was about to tell her so, but she walked away promptly before he got the chance.

Snape walked down to the dungeons, muttering angrily the entire way. By the time he'd entered his classroom, he had reassured himself that at least he'd only be filling in for Slughorn for one day out of the whole year. Surely he could survive this.

Snape scanned the classroom for James upon reaching the front of the room. To his surprise, the boy was in the first row! He was gazing up at him eagerly with a mischievous glint in his eyes that made Snape's blood boil.

Trying to distract himself, he began the role call. As he went through the list, he realized that there were a few significant names of newly sorted Gryffindors he hadn't remembered from last night, but then again, he had been quite distracted with one particular name. Lucy Weasley, as well as Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, happened to be in this class. _Maybe this won't be so bad, after all. None of _their _parents were ever too much trouble to handle. Perhaps they'll have some sort of influence on Potter, _Snape thought, relaxing a little.

Snape looked up and realized all three were seated in the same row as James, whispering intensely, not realizing that the rest of the class, including Snape, had gone silent in an attempt to eavesdrop.

Snape maneuvered his way to the back of the room and slowly worked his way up the aisle until he was behind the four children. He was very curious to know what they were planning.

"Shh, Lucy, don't say that out loud! Snape might hear and then he'll know!" James was saying.

"Know what, Mr. Potter?" The shock of this seemed to be too much for the four of them, judging by the way every single one of them fell off their stools.

"Keeping secrets on the first day of class, Potter?"

"No, sir. I was actually going to tell you all about it during our tea this afternoon. Remember how Professor Dumbledore arranged that for us last night?" James said this all very loudly, looking around to make sure everyone was watching.

Snape cringed. The last thing he needed was for the entire class to hear about him being forced by Dumbledore to have tea with the Chosen One's first-born.

While the whole class was snickering, Snape strode up to where James was sitting. "I don't know what you're planning, but rest assured, I will make sure you are dealt with accordingly!" he hissed at James.

Without any sort of warning, James, along with Lucy, Lorcan, and Lysander, all began laughing out loud.

Snape raised his eyebrows. He had no idea what they found funny about this situation, but he still had a class to teach and couldn't afford to waste any more time.

He set a simple color change potion for the class to do. He then proceeded to lurk in between the aisles, wondering if James was going to be as mediocre at potions as his father.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion from the front of the room. Snape rushed to the front and found three cauldrons lying on the floor in a massive puddle of clear potion that wasn't even close to being turned black like he'd instructed.

Snape was livid. With a glance to the top of the desks in front of him, he realized that James was the only one whose potion hadn't exploded. How was it that the daughter of the heads of the department of international magical cooperation _and _the great-grandsons of Newt Scamander had forgotten to add feathers to their potions before stirring, and the only one in the entire row to remember to do so was _Harry Potter's _son?

"You three are going to clean up this mess right now! And you are going to write me an essay to hand in for tomorrow about why exactly this potion went wrong! Fifty points from Gryffindor!"

All three of them nodded straight away and practically ran to the storage cupboard for rags to clean up with.

James raised his hand immediately.

Bewildered, Snape said, "What is it, Mr. Potter? Do not test my patience this early in the morning."

"Why didn't you use the vanishing spell instead of making them clean up? My dad says you _always _used to use that spell with him."

Snape sneered, but refused to give an answer. Instead, he walked over to see just how bad James' potion was, but he froze in complete surprise upon realizing that the potion was perfect. It was pitch black, just how Snape wanted it.

"Who did you copy off of, Potter?"

"No one! You don't need to take my word for it, though. Look around, and you'll see that I had no one suitable to copy _from," _he answered back with an infuriating smirk.

It was true. Everyone had either brewed a bright blue concoction that had smoke drifting from it, or a magenta potion that was running over.

James raised his hand again.

"_What?" _Snape snapped at him.

"How many points do I get for my perfect potion, sir?"

The two engaged in a staring contest until Snape grudgingly replied, "Ten points. Now get out of my sight."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I'm not sure how good this chapter is, so please leave a review to let me know what you think! What are some more things that you'd like to see Snape and James, Albus, or Lily discuss? Is there anything in particular you'd like to see happen?

As soon as classes were over for the day, Snape had a large headache. He was in the middle of drinking a calming draught when McGonagall burst into his office and began speaking rapidly.

"Severus, none of us can believe how you did it, but…you must have done something right! Thank you for taming the Potter boy for us, since this really does raise our hopes for the coming year. Horace says he wouldn't mind if it hadn't worked, but he wants to come and thank you personally tonight at dinner, and Filius and Pomona were making bets on the outcome -"

After nearly choking on his calming draught, Snape cut in with, "But wait, Minerva. Are you telling me that _no one_ has had any complaints about this boy today? He hasn't acted up at all? Surely, he must have shown at least one of you disrespect of some sort -"

"Nonsense, Severus! The boy is an angel! I couldn't believe it myself! And from what our young Mr. Potter conveyed, it seems he is quite talented!" She gave a knowing smile.

Snape narrowed his eyes at this. "Conveyed what, exactly?"

"Well, he's been telling everyone all about how he managed to concoct a perfect potion today! Horace was pleased when I told him. He can't wait to have him in class!"

The cheeky brat! Snape knew the boy wouldn't fully be able to conceal his true nature. He was conceited enough to go around bragging about being able to do a simple assignment, _and _he was cunning enough to use this information to sway the rest of the teachers to believe he was some lovely angel. How James hadn't been sorted into Slytherin, he would never know.

"So? Don't you see what he's trying to do? He's trying to make sure you are all on his side so that whenever he _does_ end up causing trouble, he'll be let off the hook -"

Looking frustrated, McGonagall immediately said, "Why must you always assume the worst whenever it comes to a Potter? I don't want to hear more of this!"

"But I -"

"Honestly! Learn to let go of past childhood grudges, and perhaps things will start looking up for you! Maybe your afternoon tea will be sufficient to help you get to know how pleasant he is."

With that, she strode off.

With a sigh, he realized that if he didn't get to Dumbledore's office soon, he wouldn't hear the end of it from the old man. So, he headed off.

When Snape entered Dumbledore's study, both James and Dumbledore were already there. However, both were too busy to notice him. James was entertaining the portraits with some sort of story while Dumbledore looked on, James occasionally pausing to tell Dumbledore a few jokes. James laughed heartily as the portraits applauded him and as Dumbledore winked at him.

_Just look at the pompous brat!_ thought Snape. _Eating up the spotlight like nobody's business! Won't his grandfather be proud that he's carrying on the family tradition…_

"Ah, Severus, you've arrived at last!" Dumbledore exclaimed.

"Obviously," Snape replied bitterly.

Dumbledore clapped his hands together in delight and conjured up a small table with two chintz chairs and two cups of tea on both sides of it. Once he saw them both take their seats, he said, "Well, I shall leave the two of you alone for a while, shall I?"

"Professor Dumbledore, can you stay?" James asked.

Snape raised his eyebrows. This was strange, but at least it meant he wouldn't be alone with him and that Dumbledore would be able to keep him in check.

Dumbledore considered James for a moment, then sat down and said, "If that's what you would like, James. I had actually wanted to stay, but felt it would be too intrusive to ask." He smiled at both James and Snape, but his gaze lingered a bit longer on Snape, his eyes twinkling madly. He then took out some paperwork and began filling it out. Without looking up, he said, "Carry on, gentlemen. This should be interesting."

Before Snape could make a nasty retort, James said, "Hey, Fawkes! You want a chocolate frog?"

The beautiful crimson phoenix looked curiously at the chocolate James was waving in the air until Snape quickly moved James's hand away.

"Foolish boy! You don't feed a bird sugar-filled rubbish, or else you'll make it sick!"

James grinned. "How was I supposed to know? Anyways, I didn't know you had such great concern for the well-being of animals, Professor Snape."

"Potter, don't get too carried away now. I merely don't want to see the headmaster's bird die on my watch."

James rolled his eyes and stuffed the chocolate frog into his mouth, making sure to remove the card from the wrapper and lay it on the desk.

No one said anything for a few seconds, but Snape noticed that James kept pushing the card up the table very slowly, almost as if he wanted Snape to notice it. James observed Snape carefully, his eyes alight with excitement.

Suddenly, Snape snatched up the card, expecting to see Harry Potter's face on it, assuming that was what all the antics were about, that maybe James wanted to strategically place the card in front of Snape as an excuse for him to start bragging about his famous family. But what he saw on the card took him by surprise. The name Severus Snape was on it in elaborate silver letters that were outlined in green. There was a small description about him being a war hero in black underneath, and like the rest of the cards, it had a gold background with…a photo at the top? It was a moving photo of Snape at the front of Slughorn's potions classroom, looking around the room.

"Where did you get this photo from?" said Snape.

"You know how you kicked me out of class for brewing a perfect potion?"

Snape could see Dumbledore had stopped moving his quill and was now staring fixedly at one spot on his paper, obviously interested in this tidbit of information.

Snape waited for James to continue, but the infuriating boy only smiled innocently back and said, "That's all I'm saying about that."

"Anyways," James went on, "my cousin, Dominique, helped out with the design. We already made a copy and mailed it to Honeydukes."

"And? Was there a particular reason for doing this?"

"I overheard my parents talking about it. Anyways, let's change the topic," James said quickly, which indicated there was something he didn't want to let slip. Snape made a mental note of this.

"So," James began, "what was it like to have my parents in class?"

"Surely you've heard plenty from them about me being their teacher. Why do you feel the need to ask?"

James grinned and said, "For a different point of view, I guess. I mean, how did you feel when you purposely," James tilted his head in Dumbledore's direction slightly and spoke a tad louder, "dropped my dad's potion in class and pretended it was an accident after he saw that memory, and then you gave him a zero for the day."

This time, Dumbledore not only stopped writing, but also set down his quill and looked at the two of them.

Then a tune came from the clock as it struck four o'clock.

James glared at Snape. "Oh, look at that. It's getting late. I'll just leave you and Professor Dumbledore to chat."

James got up and walked across the room. His hand touched the doorknob just as Snape spoke.

"How did you know how to brew that potion?"

James turned around and looked him straight in the eye as he answered, "I asked my dad to teach me some stuff growing up, and he's a head auror, so obviously he can brew potions. But he said I catch on quickly because I have my grandmother's genes." He left the room.

There was silence after he left. Snape wondered what the boy was trying to imply with that comment.

"Severus, I understand that you have some grudges, but why can't you let go for once? You and James were a lot younger when all those things happened. I have said time and time again that Harry is very much like Lily and that you have nothing to hold against him, but now I'm hearing another story about you purposely failing him. And there's no reason for you to hold such ill will for our young James Sirius. He is only eleven, yet you are allowing your preconceived hatred of him to blind you. I can tell he is mischievous, yes, but that's how some children are. They need to have their harmless fun. If you were to look past his outer appearance, you'd be able to appreciate his talent, humor, and outgoing personality." Dumbledore said quietly.

Snape nodded, feeling slightly overwhelmed by Dumbledore's words. As he got up to leave, Dumbledore added, "He is Lily's grandson, after all."

As Snape made to leave, he heard footsteps hurrying away from the office door.

His heart sank. James had been eavesdropping. As he exited the office, he started down the long corridor. He thought he noticed a flash of messy jet black hair going around the corner and out of sight.


	4. Chapter 4

At dinner, Snape was in a right state. As soon as he'd arrived, he'd stabbed a steak with his fork and then proceeded to read the _Evening Prophet _while trying to discreetly glare at the Gryffindor table, eating nothing for the duration of the meal. The staff reacted by just sending several looks of concern his way, but when Snape threw the newspaper to the ground, muttering under his breath, no one could hold in their curiosity any longer.

"Severus, for goodness' sake, what is it?" Sinistra inquired.

"Just read this article in the _Prophet!" _He threw the paper at Sinistra, Slughorn and Vector reading over her shoulders.

"I should have guessed! After all, anything to do with the Potters gets you brooding, Severus. Harry Potter is paying his annual visit to the school to teach defense against the dark arts, starting tomorrow! Why weren't we told sooner?" said Vector.

"Because Harry only just owled me an hour ago. He seemed eager to visit as soon as possible," said Dumbledore with a small smile, "but I personally believe he misses James. After all, it's his first time sending a child off to Hogwarts."

"And no doubt Ginny wants Harry ter check up on him and make sure he ain't gettin' inta too much trouble." Hagrid added in fondly.

"Severus, this means you won't be seeing James Potter in class until next week, since all your classes will be covered by your old student. We all know just how much this will devastate you." McGonagall teased.

Snape folded his arms. Since Harry was going to be joining them, this increased Snape's chance of bumping into a Potter this week.

Dumbledore checked his watch, which had several planets moving around it. How on earth the man understood what it said, Snape had no clue.

"Harry should be arriving any minute now!" Dumbledore exclaimed. "I can't wait to see the looks on the children's faces when he gets here."

No sooner had Dumbledore made this claim than did the doors of the Great Hall open. In came Harry Potter, now a man of thirty-five years, dressed in Madam Malkin's finest black robes.

As he made his way through the hall, the students went wild. They cheered, whistled, pointed at his scar, and clapped for him, to which he replied with a simple wave and a smile. Several of the younger, more obnoxious students ran up to him to shake his hand and ask for autographs, while the rest seemed too intimidated or shy to approach him. Well, save for a few of the seventh year girls, who were twirling their hair and trying to converse with him as he signed autographs and was obviously trying to bite back his laughter at the girls' behavior.

Over at the Gryffindor table, James could be seen wearing a look of mingled disgust and amusement, while Victoire shook her head and Dominique and Lorcan cheered along with the rest of the students. Louis had his head down on the table, but Molly sat straight as a board with a horrified look on her face. Lucy and Lysander were blushing, and Fred was trying to reassure both of them while whistling at the same time.

It took a full fifteen minutes for Harry to get rid of the younger students, but the seventh year girls proved to be harder to shake off. Once he'd convinced one to go back to her house table, one would cling to his arm and start chatting him up, allowing another one to sneak back towards him.

The staff was in hysterics by now.

"Oh dear, Harry is too polite. Those girls aren't going to go away unless he's more insistent," McGonagall said in an amused tone.

"Hm. It's interesting how he managed to defeat the most powerful dark lord the world has seen, and yet he's no match for teenage girls." Snape mused.

It seemed Harry had finally gotten a hold on the situation, however. He walked at a quick pace towards the staff table, looking back to shout apologies to the girls, who were being scolded rather harshly by Victoire Weasley. They looked thoroughly embarrassed at being told off by Harry Potter's niece, especially since she was a sixth year and, therefore, a year younger than they were.

The noise in the Great Hall was still deafening, so Harry needed to shout his greetings to each staff member as he shook their hand. He gave a small wrapped present each to Dumbledore, McGonagall, Slughorn, Neville, and Hagrid.

As he reached Snape, he also gave him a present and shook his hand warmly, but with slight apprehension, even after all these years. Snape sneered at him like always, and Harry asked, "How are you, Professor Snape?"

Snape's sneer became even more prominent. "Potter, surely nineteen years should be enough time for you to realize I am no longer your teacher?"

Harry looked for a split second as if he wanted to argue, but he then turned to the other teachers and began speaking with them.

Harry grinned as he told them, "It's a good thing I got out of there when I did. I saw a couple first year girls about to get up and start chatting me up."

"Good lord, m'boy! You're over twice the age of a seventh year, and over _three_ times the age of a first year! What could they possibly want with you? I'll need to be having a chat with some of them in my slug club," Slughorn exclaimed.

"And not to mention the fact that you're married with three kids!" said Neville.

"Horace, Neville, you wouldn't believe the simple manner in which children think nowadays. I've overheard the seventh year girls coming up with the most ridiculous schemes, most of which involve getting Harry to divorce his wife and marry one of them, thereby allowing them access to both the Potter vault and the fame that comes with being a legendary hero's wife," Sinistra said.

Harry looked stunned. "That's definitely _not_ something I'd allow to happen in a million years." He leaned against the table and took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Or, in the case of the first year girls, they hope to get close to you in order to ask you permission to marry James or Albus as soon as possible." Sinistra allowed herself a smirk.

To this, Harry dropped his glass of pumpkin juice in utter shock, but the noise of the glass shattering on the floor went largely unnoticed, since the students' noise level hadn't died down one bit and some of the teachers were now howling with laughter.

"I - What? - There's no way - But my sons are ten and eleven - I would never allow -" Harry stammered.

Madam Pomfrey laughed and said, "Harry, don't worry. I'm sure Victoire will be able to keep these girls in check."

Once Harry seemed to have recovered from the shock of this piece of news, he laughed and said, "Well, won't this be something to tell Ginny? Anyways, I'd better head to my guest room and get unpacking. See you all in the morning."

He vanished the shards of glass he'd dropped and then turned to Snape. "Sir, is it alright with you if I just have a quick word tomorrow morning in your office?"

Snape was both confused and a bit annoyed. "Potter, what's this all about?"

"Nothing much, sir. Just want to check on a few things." He glanced over at James, and suddenly Snape understood. Harry wanted to speak with Snape about mistreating James, or something similar. Now that the Boy-Who-Lived was the proud father of a boy who got himself into all sorts of shenanigans, he had found more reason to fatigue Snape.

Harry's eyes lit up as he noticed James, the Scamander twins, and his nieces and nephews waving and smiling at him eagerly. He waved back with a sad smile on his face.

Harry sighed. "They all know that I can't go down there to say hi without being swamped, so I'll just have to wait 'til morning.

As Harry quickly ran out of the Great Hall, Snape noticed that James's friends and cousins were pestering him about something, and maybe he was imagining it, but James's expression looked a bit guilty to him.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Snape did his best to avoid Harry at breakfast. The noise level still hadn't died down, but Harry still went out of his way to shout a greeting to Snape. After Harry made some weak comment on the weather in an attempt to engage Snape in conversation, Snape glared at him, which forced Harry to awkwardly look away and pretend to wave to Lucy. Snape could see from the corner of his eye that McGonagall was sending him a stern look for mistreating Harry, who was only trying to act civil towards the man who had saved his life on countless occasions.

When the bell rang that signaled breakfast was over, the students began to file out. The entire staff chatted as they came down towards the doors. A few girls looked like they were lingering at the doors, waiting for Harry, but one look from McGonagall drove them all out. As they left, one of them could be heard saying, "Can't wait for defense against the dark arts class! Eye candy, here we come."

The staff members smirked and looked at Harry for a reaction. Harry blushed profusely. "Can someone please threaten to take away house points so that they'll stop?"

"No need to worry. I'll see to it. This isn't at all appropriate, considering you'll be their teacher of sorts for a week," McGonagall said.

"Maybe their interest in you will die down by tonight. It's probably just a pleasant shock to go from having Severus as their teacher to suddenly having _you_ instead after only a day of class," Flitwick said.

Snape highly doubted this, and judging by the hesitant nod Harry gave, he could see he felt the same way. Flitwick was far too optimistic for his own good.

Snape went down to his office, leaving Harry behind to deal with teasing from the rest of the staff. By the time he'd seated himself and begun filling out paperwork, the door opened and Harry entered.

"Potter, make this quick. Your first class begins in a few minutes."

"I know, but…can you tell me if…well, has my son, James, given you any trouble so far?"

Snape was a bit taken aback. So, Harry didn't want to accuse him of anything. He wanted to know whether James had done anything to him.

"Why would you seek me out specifically to ask about your son? What makes you think he would be giving me trouble, and no one else?"

Before Harry could say anything further, a large stack of parchment on Snape's desk came tumbling down.

Harry's eyes widened. He looked around the room curiously. "What _was _that?"

Snape retorted, "Probably just the wind. Even you should be able to realize that the window is open."

"I didn't feel any wind."

"Neither did I, but then again, we were too busy discussing your conceited son to notice. See what trouble he's managing to cause when he isn't even here, Potter?"

At Snape's words, the windows snapped shut.

"Let's continue this conversation outside!" Harry said, slowly edging his way toward the door, his eyes fixed on the windows the entire time.

"Potter, do you know just how many times I've had Peeves do this to me? I assure you it's nothing dark. Or has so many years of being an auror caused you to become even more paranoid than Mad-Eye Moody?" He walked outside into the corridor with Harry, shutting the door behind him.

"Sir, I never said I thought it was anything dark. It could be…never mind."

"No, Potter, I'm listening. Go on, go on. Just what does famous Harry Potter think it could be then?"

Harry said nothing for a few seconds, which was enough to allow Snape's patience to deteriorate.

"I have no time for this," said Snape.

He went back and tried to open his office door but realized it was locked.


	6. Chapter 6

"Blasted door!" Snape rattled the handle and leaned against the office door, but when that didn't work, he tried, "Alohomora!" The door opened slightly, to which Snape replied, "Finally!" Before he could take a single step forward, however, the door slammed shut again.

Harry simply stood in the corridor looking like he'd suddenly realized something.

"Peeves! Show yourself! I don't want to have to blast down my door -" Snape began.

"No! No, whatever you do, don't blast down your door!" Harry shouted.

Snape turned on his heel in a very slow, menacing way to face Harry. "And what makes you say _that, _Potter?" he hissed.

Suddenly, the defense against the dark arts classroom next door opened and out came Fred Weasley.

"Uncle Harry!" He ran up to Harry, who looked down at him and smiled, ruffling his thick, dark red hair.

"Buddy, how long has your class been waiting for me?"

"Not too long, but I came out to see what all the commotion was. You guys were making a lot of noise, you know." Fred hastily attempted to smooth his hair out. He didn't falter under Snape's glare.

Harry turned to Snape. "Maybe you should just come with me to my - er - _your_ classroom."

"Absolutely not! I am going to go inform Filch to get rid of Peeves -"

"Filch has informed me that he will be very busy today unsticking gum from the greenhouse roofs -" said Harry.

"Then Dumbledore can come and see to -"

"Professor Dumbledore has informed me that he would be at the Ministry all day today trying to convince my department that Louis wasn't being serious when he threatened to turn everyone there into cheese puffs -"

"Then just how do you expect me to -"

"Stop overreacting!"

Snape narrowed his eyes. "Then do you have a solution?" he said in a soft, deadly voice.

All Harry said was, "Just follow me. I might have an idea of what's going on, and you should stay with me in the classroom for a while so I can confirm if I'm right or not."

"For how long?"

"Shouldn't take too long."

Harry ushered Fred in, who had been taking in the scene before him with great interest. Snape strode in and slammed the door behind the three of them.

Harry walked to the front of the classroom, Snape took a seat at his desk, and Fred wandered over to where Louis and Molly were sitting. Fred whispered something in Molly's ear, who then whispered into Louis's ear. Snape had the uneasy feeling that something wasn't right here.

The class clapped for Harry, ignoring Snape completely. Harry was in the middle of explaining how to use the disarming spell when Snape noticed the door slide open a little bit. Through the tiny gap in the door, he could see thick silvery blonde hair that was tinted ever so slightly with red. Dominique gave the thumbs up to Fred, who returned it with a grin.

"Miss Weasley!" Snape shouted. Harry and the rest of the class jumped, and the door shut as discreetly as it had opened.

Molly spoke up timidly. "Y-yes, sir?"

"Not you! Your cousin, Dominique Weasley!"

Molly looked positively confused, until Fred whispered something into her ear, just like he'd done at the beginning of class.

"Mr. Weasley! Stop that this instant! You will _not_ be filling her in on whatever scheme you're in on this time so that she can come up with something to say to save your skin! I don't intend on a repeat of last year! Mr. Weasley, _look at me when I speak to you!_" Snape yelled out. For Fred had been looking at the classroom door anxiously, as if waiting for someone else to come in. At Snape's words, though, Fred snapped to attention and Louis, who had been sleeping, sat straight up.

"Sorry, sir!" Louis said hurriedly. By this time, Harry was shaking his head and sighing.

"Not you, Mr. Weasley! I was talking to your cousin!" Snape bellowed. But as soon as Louis gave a relieved sigh, Snape snapped at him, "And why exactly were you asleep, young man? Been staying up late in the Gryffindor common room to plot something, have you?"

"Snape, that's enough! Leave the kids alone so that I can get back to the lesson!" said Harry.

"Leave the kids alone? Now, listen here, Potter. You may allow them to roam free and do as they please while under your care, but you won't while I'm -"

"Now, are you sure you want to aim personal attacks at him like that in front of a whole class of children?" said a voice coming from the slowly opening door.

James took a few steps into the room. He had a silvery, silky fabric in his hands. "Professor Snape, I believe your office is open and waiting for you."


	7. Chapter 7

James's expression was unreadable. The room was silent, save for the clock that ticked by without a care.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Professor Flitwick gave me the day off 'cause I already levitated my feather for him in the staffroom last night, and he said we weren't going to do anything besides that today."

"And you decided to utilize this time by locking your teacher out of his office?" Snape asked quietly, but his tone challenged anyone to defy him.

James walked out, and Snape could tell that Harry wanted to go after him, judging by the way he stared at the door before continuing his teaching. Snape rushed out of the classroom and into the hallway.

"_Potter!"_ he hissed. There was no sign of James anywhere in the corridor. He went straight to his office to see if the boy was hiding in it. But what he found instead was strange, to say the least.

The entire office was redecorated. The walls, the closet, the desk, the chair….They were no longer black. All were a magnificent green and silver. It didn't stop there, either. The ceiling had remained black, but there was now a large, elaborate drawing of a serpent on it. The windows now had dark green curtains, and there was an emerald green carpet on the previously bare stone floor. The see-through ink bottles on the desk were tinted in various colors, the stacks of parchment were tied together with ribbons, and the feathers on the quills had small diamonds on them.

Snape simply stood there in shock, trying to fathom what, just _what, _the motive behind this was.

When the bell rang, Harry came in, and his reaction was the same as Snape's. "What in the world?" Harry said to himself after a few minutes of silent contemplation of the room. He asked Snape, "I can't imagine how he'd manage to do this on his own. You said you saw Dominique earlier?"

Snape nodded.

"Then that's how. She's a fourth year, so she's capable of doing this, but how was she able to create that drawing on the ceiling in such a short amount of time? They must have been planning this for a while," Harry concluded.

Harry paced the room for a while, but Snape waited until Harry was halfway out the door to ask him his question.

"Why would they do this? Why would _he_ do this? There must be some ulterior motive."

"There's always an ulterior motive when it comes to James and the others."

"He's been eavesdropping on my conversations since he came here."

Harry looked very interested in this. "He was listening to us earlier in here under his invisibility cloak. And back in the classroom."

"And when I was speaking to Dumbledore in his study yesterday."

"And now!" came a voice from the closet. James stepped out.

Harry looked like his patience was thinning. "James, I told you specifically two days ago that I didn't want you to go around bothering Professor Snape -"

"I wasn't bothering him!"

"Then what do you call locking the man out of his office and eavesdropping on him?"

"How can you defend him? After how he's treating you, even now?"

"That's not the point -"

"But I heard him! He was insulting you every time you tried to talk to him!"

Snape interrupted this conversation with, "Get out! Both of you! Tomorrow, we are all going to go see the headmaster so that we can settle this matter! I will not tolerate students sneaking around and invading my privacy! Potter, you will inform Fred, Louis, andDominique Weasley that they will also be coming with us!" he added to Harry.

Snape got up and pushed both of them out, watching as Harry hurried back into the classroom and James ran to the stairs.

Later at dinner, Snape's bad mood hadn't improved in the slightest. The cheering students left Snape even more angry than he'd been before. He was certain that all the attention Harry was getting was going to James's head and letting him think the rules were beneath him because his familial relations somehow permitted him to get away with anything he wanted to do.

James and Dominique jumped up from their table and came right up to Filch. This captured the attention of everyone at the staff table. After all, it was usually Filch trying to find students for whatever they'd done, not the other way around.

Filch's eyes widened. "What is it? I've had enough of all you students after the large amount of gum I had to detach from the greenhouse roofs today!"

"There're some people at the gates on official business who're waiting to be let in," said Dominique mysteriously.

Snape couldn't take this anymore. "Now how exactly would you know if there's someone at the gates when you're in here?"

"And just how would you know that they're here on official business?" Harry asked.

Neither kids bothered to acknowledge that Harry or Snape had said anything. They had slightly sour looks on their faces, most likely because of the meeting with Dumbledore they had the next day.

"Mr. Filch, if you don't get down there soon, I'm afraid we'll need to report you to Dumbledore and have you lose your job," said James. Of course, he was resorting to blackmailing the caretaker, of all things!

Filch hurried down with the two of them, and together they exited the doors.

Snape had a feeling things were about to unfold and become clearer.


	8. Chapter 8

Snape decided to take matters into his own hands. He ran down to the doors of the Great Hall, and then to the main castle doors, which were already open.

By the time he'd made it to the last stone step, he found himself becoming blinded by flashes of bright camera lights. The air was filled with clicks from ten cameras and incessant questions from around twenty journalists.

"Professor Snape, how do you feel about being on the new chocolate frog cards?"

"Is it true that your card was designed by none other than the supposedly talented Stan Shunpike?"

"Is it true that Aberforth Dumbledore blackmailed you into agreeing to the creation of your card?"

"Would you like to sample a chocolate frog from your very own card? Here, I have a few with me. They all taste the same, but still -"

"Is it true that Ronald Weasley, a head auror, has offered you a position in his department?"

"Is it true that you are currently assisting the one and only Mundungus Fletcher with his black market schemes? If it is true, please let it be noted that we will keep whatever you say in full confidence, despite the large amount of witnesses there will be when you answer -"

"Is it true that you are the one behind the illegal act of spray painting the Hogwarts Express neon pink?"

Snape shielded his eyes with his hands while taking in all these untrue assumptions.

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER! DOMINIQUE WEASLEY! YOU IGNORAMUSES, WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO INVITE ALL THESE PEOPLE HERE?" Snape shouted into the night air.

At Snape's words, every photographer and journalist then proceeded to focus attention upon James and Dominique instead.

"Young Mr. Potter, how do you feel about being featured in _Witch Weekly_'s list of the top twenty most adorable children under the age of thirteen born to European celebrities for the eleventh year in a row?"

"Miss Dominique, is it true that you are now a fashion icon for teen girls everywhere?"

"James, is it true you are about to become the face of a new line of preteen boys' clothing that will only be available at Madam Malkin's?"

"Miss Weasley, did you really mean it when you told the press three years ago that Professor Sinistra was insane for throwing you out of class after you'd gotten caught trying to decorate your telescope with glue and tape?"

Snape knew for a fact that all of these rumors were true. Dominique looked a bit taken aback as her picture was taken numerous times, but she responded to the press with well thought out answers. James, on the other hand, was fully basking in the limelight, creating all sorts of inventive poses for the cameras and boasting loudly to the reporters.

"POTTER! WEASLEY! GET OVER HERE THIS INSTANT!" Snape was in a rage.

Dominique tugged on James's arm, but when it became apparent he wasn't about to go anywhere, she rushed over to Snape's side. Half the photographers and journalists ran after her, all of them eventually crashing into each other. One of them bumped into her, causing her to bump into Snape, which caused him to knock Filch over (Filch had been standing off to one side, watching the proceedings with disgust). Filch's lantern was flung out of his grasp and somehow managed to land in the middle of the entrance hall. It smashed very loudly, and before Snape knew it, McGonagall had exited the Great Hall, probably to see what all the commotion was about.

McGonagall simply stood there for several moments, taking in the scene before her. Her eyes rested on Dominique.

"Miss Weasley! Explain yourself!"

"But Professor! What about James? He helped me with this!"

"I can't believe you, out of all the Weasleys, would dare blame your innocent younger cousin for something he had no part in!"

"…Professor, are you feeling alright? Everyone knows James can be as much of a nuisance as the rest of us, or maybe you just haven't gotten to really know him yet -"

"I don't know what you're blabbering on about, but come in here at once. I will deal with you after I've told these people to go away -"

James suddenly shouted, "Did I forget to mention that Professor Snape's office has been newly renovated? I think this would make a great story for _Witch Weekly_! What do y'all think?"

There were murmurs of approval amongst the crowd of photographers and journalists.

Then, there came a popping noise that signaled apparition from outside the open gates. The person walking past the gates had elaborate curls and jeweled spectacles. Her two-inch crimson nails clutched a crocodile-skin handbag and an acid green quick-quotes quill.

"Miss Skeeter! I see you've gotten my owl." James's eyes glittered maliciously as he shook her hand.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Happy 4th of July to everyone!

Rita Skeeter looked down fondly at James and patted his head. "I'm glad to see that you're more accepting of me than your dreaded aunt."

"You mean Aunt Hermione?"

"Yes, that's the one."

For a moment, he let slip a very small frown at Rita.

James looked around at the press and said, "Why don't I lead the way?"

The press began following James, who had Rita and Dominique on either side of him. McGonagall and Snape pushed through the crowd to catch up with the kids and Rita.

"Rita Skeeter?" McGonagall peered at Rita through her glasses. "Didn't Dumbledore say he didn't want you coming onto the grounds anymore?"

"Well, Minerva, I have been informed that Dumbledore is not in the castle at the moment, and you don't have the authority to make me leave."

McGonagall's nostrils flared. Snape said, "Skeeter, of course she has every right to do so. She is the deputy headmistress. I don't know what Potter has brought you here for, but I suggest you leave right this instant."

Rita looked very amused. "Ah, _Snape_! Have you read the book I wrote all about you? The one entitled _Snape: Scoundrel or Saint?_"

"That thing you call a book is utter rubbish designed for you to make a fortune."

"If you say so, Severus. But anyways, I'm only here because James promised me a good story on you. Don't worry, I won't defame you."

Snape highly doubted this. "You're allowing an eleven-year-old boy to make deals with you?"

"The amount of money he offered was promising -"

Snape nearly stopped walking in surprise. "He promised you money? Where would he get money from? Mr. Potter, don't tell me you plan on stealing gold!"

James didn't even turn around to look at Snape while he spoke. "I don't need to steal money. And I'm not going to risk my neck or my reputation to break into Gringotts or something. Dominique and I made a lot of money from giving Honeydukes that chocolate frog card design ."

James then turned to Rita and looked her directly in the eye. "I think today's going to be an important day for your career, Miss Skeeter."

"And it's all going to be thanks to you, James!" As Rita said this, James and Dominique looked at each other and smiled as if they were both in on a secret joke.

When everyone had reached Snape's office, James unlocked the door with, "Alohomora!"

Normally, Snape wouldn't have allowed James to break into his office, but since he wanted to know what he was up to, he merely stood back and observed.

Snape found it amusing how the press did everything James said.

"Stand back! Now, I want everyone from the _Daily Prophet_, including you, Miss Skeeter, to rush into the office and start taking pictures and looking around on the count of three. One…"

James began to move away from the door.

"Two…"

A couple photographers nearly dropped their cameras in excitement.

"Three!"

It was a chaotic mess. Everyone rushed in, Rita Skeeter at the forefront, swinging her quick-quotes quill in the air about her in anticipation. Rapid notes were being taken and cameras were flashing wildly.

James held an arm out to stop McGonagall from entering, but when he saw Snape, he lowered his arm slightly as if pondering whether or not to let him in. In the end, he said, "Professors, I don't think either of you should go in there."

"Why not -" but Snape's question was quickly answered by what occurred next.

Everyone in the room started to float in midair, as if riding on invisible clouds. It appeared that a harmless jinx had been activated. The press was very confused and started making bargains with James and Dominique to let them down.

"James, I can create your very own chocolate frog cards if you let me down!"

"Dominique, I can offer your family an all-expenses paid trip to Paris!"

Snape was perplexed. If these kids had wanted to do this prank, there was no need to invite a whole army of people from outside the school when there were plenty of gullible Hogwarts students willing to break into a teacher's office right in the Great Hall. So, what was the purpose in having people from the newspaper involved?

"Okay, now that I've got you all where I want you," began James, "I think it's time for me to reveal the biggest secret of all and have Rita Skeeter get what she deserves for writing that book about my father."

Dominique looked at James, as if prompting him to continue. "And?"

James sighed and glanced at Snape. "And for writing that book about Professor Snape."

James and Rita Skeeter glared at each other. "I hope everyone's listening because…" James gave a dramatic pause before saying, "Rita Skeeter is an unregistered animagus."


	10. Chapter 10

McGonagall exclaimed, "Goodness gracious! But James, how can you be sure?"

"Yes, boy. Would you, by any chance, have actual proof?" spat Rita.

"My dad knows it's true. Professor McGonagall, is it okay if you ask him to come and check everything out? It's just that me and Dominique are _really _tired." As James said this, Snape knew he was lying. The two kids looked energetic as ever.

In fact, as soon as McGonagall, who had devoured James's lie whole without question, left to fetch Harry from the Great Hall, the two kids ran at such a fast speed to Gryffindor Tower that no one looking could dare say they were tired, of all things.

Snape left the scene to check and see if Dumbledore was back yet, but he found he still wasn't back. If it hadn't been for Louis Weasley and his ridiculous run-in with the ministry, Dumbledore might have been present for Snape to vent all his frustration about the meddlesome children at Hogwarts.

He saw Harry leave the Great Hall with McGonagall at a rush, but just as soon as the Great Hall doors had closed, they had opened up again, but very slowly this time around. The rest of the Weasley children and the Scamander twins emerged and began to rush up the staircase that led to Gryffindor Tower, all of them anxiously looking at the opposite end of the hallway, where Harry had gone down with McGonagall.

"Stop it right there, all of you!" Snape emerged from behind the staircase they were all climbing up. Some of them looked guilty, but some kept straight faces as they looked at him.

"Let me just say that if I find _any _of you doing something you shouldn't be doing…don't be surprised when I take my complaints to the headmaster."

Some of them nodded obediently, but in the end all of them rushed up the staircase before Snape could ask any questions. Victoire Weasley rolled her eyes.

"Victoire Weasley, I see you've picked up a few bad habits from hanging around Mr. Lupin for so many school years. Five points from Gryffindor for your lack of respect."

She simply walked off with the others without looking back.

The next morning at seven o'clock, Snape sat in Dumbledore's office with Harry, James, Fred, Louis, and Dominique in chairs beside him. Dumbledore merely sat across from them at his desk, positively beaming at them all.

"First of all," Dumbledore began, "I'd like to thank you, Harry, for taking Rita Skeeter into custody last night. Hermione has informed me that Rita's trial will take place next week, as soon as all the necessary paperwork has been filed."

Dumbledore turned towards the children. "And of course, James and Dominique here deserve some praise for helping to plan this all out. And perhaps Fred and Louis had a part in this as well, seeing as Professor Snape has also brought you two into my office today?"

All the children glanced warily at Harry. Obviously, none of them had planned on Harry figuring out they'dbeen behind all this.

"Professor, I'm not following you. They helped plan Rita Skeeter's capture?" Harry looked over at all the kids with disbelief, yet he didn't seem terribly surprised. Snape thought Harry was probably used to this sort of behavior.

"Ah, as I suspected. The children have obviously kept this all a secret from you. Well, let's have one of you start off telling the story of how this all came to be." Dumbledore smiled at the children and waited.

Louis was the first to speak, "Look, Fred and I shouldn't be here. We never went into Snape's -"

"_Professor _Snape's -" interrupted Dumbledore gently.

"- Professor Snape's office. And -"

"What a nasty little liar you are, boy!" Snape exclaimed, but both Harry and Dumbledore silenced him with a look.

"Louis, stop being stupid. You guys didn't go into his office, but you'd better admit to what you _did_ do, or else we'll never get let out of here. This is just like that whole interrogation you went through with the cheese puff incident at the ministry," James said, but the expression on his face didn't match his confident tone. James was about to be caught, and it was apparent that he didn't like it one bit.

This time, Fred spoke up. "We're not the only ones that helped. We had help from a lot of other people." He looked to James, as if asking him permission to continue. When James gave a small nod, Fred said, "We spent a long time trying to organize supplies to give to James and Dominique so that they could decorate the office."

"And then James gave Victoire some of his money and she bought an invisibility cloak for Dominique from Hogsmeade through owl order while she had free time and everyone else was in class." As Louis said this, he looked expectantly at everyone, as if anticipating further questioning about this.

It was Harry who ended up doing the questioning. "Excuse me? _James's _money? Where would he get enough money from to buy such an expensive thing? James, hasn't everyone been telling you your whole life to stay away from Mundungus Fletcher and his business dealings?"

Snape wondered why James didn't immediately jump in and start explaining about the fortune he'd made off the chocolate frog cards, but then he remembered how reluctant James had become when speaking about it during their little tea session.

It was Dominique who came to the rescue. "No, no, no! Uncle Harry, James and I made a fortune overnight from the chocolate frog card -"

James looked at her as if she'd just slapped him in the face. Harry looked curious now. "Chocolate frog card?" Harry looked like he was doing some serious thinking, and then his eyes landed on James. "You were eavesdropping on your mother and I, weren't you? When we were discussing putting Professor Snape on a chocolate frog card and then decided he wouldn't appreciate it if we asked him about it, and that we shouldn't anger him too much during your first year at Hogwarts by doing it without his permission. Don't tell me you mailed in some sort of design for the card and they accepted it? Where did you get a picture from?"

"He let me leave class early, and then I snuck in and took a picture under my invisibility cloak." He sighed. "I asked Dominique to help me with the design, and then we mailed it, but I remember telling her not to mention any of this to you." He glared at her, but she gave him a haughty smile in return.

"James, how do you think Professor Snape is going to feel now that he's found out -"

Snape interrupted Harry. "I don't appreciate people talking about me as if I'm not there. But I've actually known about this chocolate frog scheme for a few days now, and to be frank, I honestly don't care, now that it's all over and done with. Get on with the story. I'm sure that your son, in _particular_, is bursting to tell us how else he's managed to go against your word and harass me before the first week of school has ended."

"James and I snuck into your office under invisibility cloaks and decorated it. We thought this would be enough to get the press interested because, you know, they take pretty much anything for a story. And we put up a jinx that was meant to only activate once Rita Skeeter had entered the room," Dominique said shamelessly.

"And you thought it would be a good idea to just invite the press here without asking permission? _And_ you went against your headmaster's wishes and invited Rita Skeeter?" Harry asked.

"It was my idea, Dad. I only organized this because Aunt Hermione told me about her being an unregistered animagus, so that gave me an idea. I wanted to get revenge on her for writing that book about you and the book about…" James drifted off, glancing at Snape.

"And James planned from the beginning to do this for both you and Professor Snape," Dominique picked up. "So, that's pretty much it."

Dumbledore started speaking. "Now that this story is all settled -"

"Hold on! What about their punishment?" Snape couldn't believe this. Dumbledore was going to let this generation of kids off the hook, just as he'd done with the previous generation.

"Punishment? Severus, I think we all must agree that, although the children's actions were a bit extreme, they still managed to catch someone who has been publishing lies for a long time. I trust you remember the book she published about you?"

Snape opened his mouth to argue, but Dumbledore said amusedly, "I don't see what there is to be so upset about, especially since you've gotten such splendid room décor out of yesterday's events." Dumbledore shared a knowing look with the kids.

"Oh, and Louis?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, sir?"

"It seems you gave the ministry quite a fright." Dumbledore didn't seem angry in any way whatsoever. "Why, my dear boy, it took the entire day for me to sort out what happened. Please try to avoid such occurrences in the future." He gave Louis a smile, and he returned it, but not without a blush creeping up the sides of his face.

Dumbledore bid them all a good day, but when Snape was the only visitor left, he said, "Severus?"

Snape turned around.

"Severus, I've noticed James's attitude towards you has changed since the last time I saw you two together. He didn't have such good-natured feelings towards you today like he did the last time you two were in this office."

"Of course not! I brought him up here because he was in trouble!"

Dumbledore continued as if Snape had not spoken. "Harry told me before you got here that James was always fascinated by stories about you growing up. He was excited to meet you, and apparently, he found you so honorable that he felt the need to sneak behind his parents' backs to put you on a trading card! Harry also confided in me that James overheard you insulting Harry, and he said that he's never heard James speak about you with such contempt before. And quite honestly, after hearing all this, I'm surprised by what Minerva told me."

"What did she say?"

"That James didn't allow you to go into your office and be levitated by the jinx."

"And what do you mean by telling me all of this, Albus?"

"Merely that it seems James is very unsure about what to think of you now. He is torn between what he has grown up hearing and what he has seen with his own eyes. Why, it may take a few years for him to decide what to think of you."

Snape left the room. He knew what Dumbledore had truly meant by telling him all of this. He wanted to make him feel sorry for James. He wanted him to embrace James with open arms and forget about the past.

No matter what, Snape would _never _let go of the hatred he felt for that young boy, just as he hadn't let go of the amount of hatred he felt for his father, and his grandfather before him, who was now in a grave after years of tormenting Snape.


	11. Chapter 11

The year had gone by and it was now September once again. Snape found himself sitting at the staff table, searching the large crowd of first years just as he had done the previous year.

Someone cleared her throat expectantly, and Snape snapped at her. "Poppy, I've told you before that if the students are hiding outside the Great Hall and playing exploding snap again, then I'm not the person to go to if you need someone to tell them to stop at once and come in here. Must I remind you that the last time this occurred, James Potter nearly killed me with his whining about how unfair I was being and Fred Weasley threw a card at me while it was in the process of exploding to defend Potter-"

"Actually, I'm just surprised you didn't notice that James has been staring at you very curiously for several minutes now."

Snape immediately looked to where Madam Pomfrey was pointing. James was looking from Snape to the crowd of first years, but when he noticed Snape's gaze, he jumped and looked away. He and Molly were having some sort of heated argument, and in the end, she turned away from him with her arms crossed. James remained unfazed by this, and instead he began speaking with the others excitedly.

Snape shook his head. It was always difficult to figure out exactly what James was up to, but he was bound to let something slip throughout the course of the year, just as he'd done numerous times the previous year.

McGonagall was calling out names. "Malfoy, Scorpius!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

James and Fred smirked together, and many students looked at Scorpius disgustedly.

Then…

"Potter, Albus!"

He emerged from the crowd, and unfortunately, he was a living replica of Harry Potter. He had unruly black hair just like James's, and - Snape held in his breath as he realized this - he had almond-shaped, emerald green eyes.

Flashbacks of a small red-headed girl playing with him on a playground a long way away from Spinner's End came to mind. The eyes she had possessed symbolized her contagious laughter, her bravery, her utter kindness…

Snape shook himself out of his thoughts and was brought back to the present. He could see that Dumbledore looked especially interested as Albus walked up to the sorting hat, James sticking his tongue out at him and Albus rolling his eyes as a response.

Whispering had begun, with several students looking from Albus to Dumbledore to Snape.

Albus looked reassured about something as he hopped onto the stool, but some uneasiness peeked through his features.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Albus looked relieved as ever, but he looked back at the crowd of first years and gave an encouraging look to a girl with straight flaming red hair.

The girl walked up to the stool when her name was called.

"Weasley, Rose!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Of course. Now the trouble was _really_ going to start. Now Hogwarts was home to children of each member of the golden trio and the son of the trio's school rival, Draco Malfoy. The past was going to repeat itself and Snape wasn't looking forward to breaking up even more squabbles than before.

James patted Rose on the back and Albus gave her a hug. Albus said something to James, and in the middle of the feast he got up and went directly to where Dumbledore was sitting.

Snape hoped to dear Merlin that Albus wasn't about to ask for a tea session like James had.

"Hey, Professor!" Albus exclaimed to Dumbledore.

"Hello, Albus. Why, I must say I've never had the pleasure of meeting a student with the same name as me."

Albus looked a bit embarrassed at this. He looked at both Dumbledore and Snape as though blown away simply by their presence.

"How are you doing? My dad's told me all about you and how you helped him out with, well, everything."

"I'm doing well, my boy. And I'm flattered by the stories I hear Harry's been telling his children about me. How about if tomorrow after classes you come up to my office and get to know your namesakes?"

Snape froze in his seat and Albus turned to look at him curiously. He broke into a genuinely innocent smile, which was quite unlike the mischievous smiles James often wore.

How dare Dumbledore force him to comply with something like this? It was bad enough that he had to endure a long list of troublemakers in class, but outside of class as well?

Intending to give Dumbledore a piece of his mind, he started off with, "Albus -" but then saw that Albus Potter had looked up, most likely wondering whether he was being spoken to or not.

Dumbledore, noticing the confusion, chimed in with, "Ah, I should have remembered what Harry told me! You go by Al, isn't that right? There we go, now we can take away some of the confusion. Severus, you had something to say to one of us?"

"Yes. I was going to say that you can't honestly expect me to converse with -"

Before Snape could finish his sentence, Sinistra, who had been observing this conversation with interest, gripped his arm in a threatening manner and jerked her head in the direction of young Albus.

"Give him a chance, for goodness' sake! How dare you go around demeaning a little boy who shares your name and wants to be just like you!" she hissed furiously.

"Aurora, how could you possibly know what goes on in a first year's thick skull?" he hissed back.

To this, she shook her head and mumbled, "How clueless."

"Professor Snape?" It was Albus.

"Potter? What is it?"

"It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you, too." When Albus realized he wasn't about to get a reply, he said bye to Dumbledore and went back to his table, James and Rose questioning him before he even got a chance to sit down.

Albus Severus Potter paused in the middle of his conversation with his brother and cousin to look at the head table. He gave Snape a smile and then looked away from him so quickly that Snape wasn't sure if he had been imagining it or not.


	12. Chapter 12

Snape sat beside Albus with Dumbledore at his usual seat behind his desk the next afternoon.

"How has your first day of classes been, Al?" Dumbledore asked.

"_Really _good, sir! I had potions, transfiguration, herbology, and…history of magic."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with amusement at Albus. "I take it that history of magic isn't your favorite subject then?"

"Well, no. And it's especially hard to concentrate when my brother keeps sneaking into the classroom to talk to me and Rose."

Snape raised his eyebrows. "Binns didn't notice? Honestly, Dumbledore, you should consider putting up an ad in the _Daily Prophet_ for someone new to teach this subject -"

Dumbledore laughed. "I'm afraid that would be rather inconsiderate of me, Severus."

Albus's head jerked up at the sound of his middle name. Snape scowled.

Dumbledore continued speaking. "Well, then. Do you have a favorite subject so far, Al? Perhaps a favorite teacher?"

"I like potions the best, and I guess Professor Slughorn's my favorite teacher. He keeps saying I'm just like Dad and Grandma Lily, and that Rose is just like Aunt Hermione."

"Potions? I can't fathom why this generation of Potters seems to favor the subject," Snape said.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I would think genes have a lot to do with this. You come from a rather talented family, Al, if I do say so myself. While the potions gene may have skipped your father," he winked at Snape, "it _certainly _doesn't seem to have skipped you and your brother."

"But what I'm really looking forward to is defense against the dark arts tomorrow!" Albus addressed this remark to Snape. His eyes were shining with excitement and fascination.

"Of course you are. Both your father and uncle capture dark wizards for a living," Snape bitterly replied.

"James said you were a really good teacher," said Albus.

"He did, did he? I'd think he would be apt to tell you all about how unfair I am, considering the amount of times I've caught him red-handed."

It seemed like Albus was biting his lip to hold back laughter. "Sir, I never said he _didn't _say that kind of thing." He and Dumbledore shared a smile.

"Anyways," Albus continued, "there's something I really wanted to tell you guys."

"And what may that be, dear boy?"

"My dad said I was named after the two greatest headmasters Hogwarts ever had."

Snape scowled once more. Of course, this was precisely the type of thing Harry Potter would say to his children. He favored Dumbledore simply because he was his favorite student back in the day, and he presumably thought Snape was some sort of hero.

Albus said, "But that isn't all he told me." He turned slightly in his chair and looked up at Snape. "Professor Snape, he said that you were the bravest man he ever knew because he wanted me to know that Slytherin house doesn't just have evil people in it. He wanted me to know that it was okay if I got sorted in there, but I don't think he would have said that if you hadn't done all those brave things."

Dumbledore's eyes seemed to be watering up with emotion.

Snape glared into the depths of his startlingly green eyes. Albus, the brave Gryffindor he was, refused to look away in fear. "And you believe he's right about me?"

"I know he is."


	13. Chapter 13

James was in Snape's first class the next day. Snape was ready for whatever mischief was going to happen today. He kept his eyes peeled for trouble, intent on catching Fred if he dared to sneak out of Slughorn's class to come and interrupt Snape's own class once again. Since James and Dominique both owned invisibility cloaks and there were two new Gryffindors in their family, it would have been foolish for Snape to not expect trouble.

Today, the students were practicing the knockback jinx on one another in pairs. Snape thought a practical lesson would do the students some good, since it would probably tire them out enough to deter them from running around and causing mayhem later on. Snape had put cushioning charms on all of them so that lawsuits wouldn't be filed against him should anyone get injured. And the last thing he wanted was for Percy Weasley to come storming in to accuse Snape of putting his precious Lucy in harm's way.

James was practicing with Lucy, while the Scamander twins practiced on each other. There was something off about James today, though Snape couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He wasn't so chatty today, he kept misaiming his jinx, and he didn't seem as entertained by being blown backwards as the other giggling second years were. He kept glancing at the corner where two Slytherin girls were practicing.

Snape went to the cupboard that was nearest where James was. He pretended to be organizing it, in hopes that he'd be able to listen in on whatever he was saying.

"James, it's okay. It doesn't really matter, does it?" Lucy said in a hushed tone.

"James, stop moping around. You're acting pathetic, all because of -" Lysander said before James blew him backwards with a very well aimed jinx.

Lorcan grinned as he pulled his brother up. "That's the spirit. Now why don't you take some of that energy and use it to correct that blunder you made outside the Great Hall? Do it right now. No one's looking."

Lucy looked appalled. "Lorcan, you're going to let him make a fool of himself? _Again_?"

James considered Lorcan for a moment. Then he said, "You know what? You're right."

James walked directly towards the corner where the two Slytherin girls were, his usual swagger back in full mode. Lucy, Lorcan, and Lysander looked both excited and anxious as they looked on.

"Hey, Hazel?" James said as he walked up to her.

Hazel Vaisey, a girl with red hair, looked at James as if she was going to burst out laughing.

"What is it now, Potter?"

"Remember what I asked you earlier?"

"How can I forget? You asked me out and I said no."

James's confident smile faltered a bit. "Haze, I know you didn't really mean it. You just said that because everyone was watching."

Lorcan was now poorly disguising his laughter by pretending to cough rather violently.

Hazel looked angry now. "Potter, even if no one had been watching, I still would have said no! You know why? Because you're just plain obnoxious and immature! Always giving first years the wrong directions to classrooms and sneaking out of class to give your cousins bubble gum every other Tuesday…I'll be surprised if you make the Quidditch team with that big fat head on whatever broomstick you're riding at tryouts." She turned the other way and proceeded to act like he wasn't there.

Snape was reminded very strongly of incidences like this that had happened between Lily Evans and James Potter in his own school days, yet he couldn't remember such drama occurring when they were twelve, for goodness' sake! Leave it to their grandson to repeat history at such a ridiculously young age. The boy was just like his grandfather, pestering a redhead to no end. Well, he'd gotten what he deserved when Hazel had told him off for his arrogant behavior.

But the thing that stuck out most in Snape's mind was that Harry Potter's son, who was a Gryffindor to the core, was chasing after a Slytherin! He made a mental note to tell Harry the next time he came to Hogwarts. Maybe he'd die of shock, despite what Albus had told him about Harry not being prejudiced towards Slytherins any longer.

The bell rang and the class exited, James hanging back to try and speak to Hazel, who was ignoring him. Lysander shook his head and attempted to pull James away.

Snape came up to James. "Fifteen points from Gryffindor. I witnessed that whole soap opera going on in my classroom" - a barely noticeable blush had formed on James's face - "and I don't want to see you distracting any of my students from their spell work ever again. Perhaps I should contact your parents and let them know what's going on?"

James shook his head very fast. "No!"

"Well then. Make sure you see to it that there's no need for me to inform them."

"Yes, sir." James hurried out of the classroom.

As the next class came filing in, Snape heard lots of commotion outside his door. He thought he heard suits of armor falling to the ground and a group of students cheering in a way that indicated there was some sort of fight taking place. And since James had just left the room, Snape had a suspicion he knew at least one person who was involved.


	14. Chapter 14

Snape rushed into the hallway outside his classroom. The cheers of the crowd of students were echoing off the castle walls.

"Out of the way, all of you! Get to class right this instant before I start taking points!" Snape said while trying to make his way to the center of the circle of onlookers formed around the fight.

James and Fred were ganging up on Scorpius Malfoy and two second year Slytherin boys. Louis was attempting to restrain James, but James kept pushing him out of the way.

Fred laughed as he disarmed Scorpius, and now that there were less students surrounding the fight, Snape heard every word that Fred was saying.

"That's what you get for doing that to James!"

Scorpius laughed aloud. "You're crazy! What exactly did I do?"

James pushed Scorpius and said, "You know what you did, Malfoy!"

James and Fred weren't aware of the fact that Louis was now involved in the fight, taking a large assortment of sweets out of his bag and pelting them at Scorpius's friends.

Fred shouted, "You knew that James likes Hazel, but you asked her out after he left to go to his first class! That's why all you Slytherins are worthless -" Scorpius delivered a hard blow to Fred's mouth.

It was when Fred was spitting out blood and James was about to tackle Scorpius that Snape finally made it through the crowd. He pulled James off Scorpius and shouted, "Enough! Detention for James Potter, Fred Weasley, and Louis Weasley in my office tonight at seven! Twenty-five points from Gryffindor!"

"But what about _them_?" Fred shouted indignantly, pointing at the three Slytherins.

"Mr. Weasley, all I saw was you ganging up on younger students, due to nothing more than Mr. Potter's…_jealousy_." Snape smirked at the embarrassed look on James's face, who seemed to now be realizing that Snape had overheard what they were saying.

The three Slytherins walked away sneering, while James stalked angrily off with Fred and Louis at his side. The three could be heard muttering to one another about greasy gits and favoritism.

Later that day, Snape had to teach the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years. Albus and Rose sat side by side in the middle row, while Scorpius sat in the back, surrounded by Slytherins.

It was a few minutes before the bell was supposed to ring that signaled the start of class. Albus, Rose, and Scorpius got up from their seats at the same time. Albus and Rose looked at Scorpius curiously as they noticed him getting up at the same time as them, and Scorpius, who already had something against their family from the fight earlier that day, looked at them with some contempt.

Snape could feel a headache coming on as all three came up to his desk.

"Sir, you know my family, right? Remember my parents and my grandparents?" Scorpius asked eagerly.

"Yes, Scorpius. I did, in fact, know them all very well."

"Then I guess you remember that Father thinks most highly of you, sir, and that Grandfather Lucius is an extraordinary wizard -"

Scorpius was cut off by Albus's derisive laugh. Scorpius glared at him and said, "What's so funny, Potter?"

"Oh, nothing. Just the fact that your grandfather was beaten by six teenagers in the Department of Mysteries, including mine and Rose's parents." Rose kicked Albus's leg to make him stop, but he kept going. "And the fact that Voldemort chained him to the house after he, you know, let his master's most wanted person, Harry Potter, escape."

Scorpius looked like he was about to breathe fire. "And your point is?"

This time, Rose couldn't contain herself. "What he's _saying_, you dimwit, is that Lucius Malfoy was never an extraordinary wizard."

"That's enough, Potter, Weasley," said Snape. "Was there something you two came up here to say?"

Albus sighed, annoyed. "Yeah, my brother wants me to convince you to let him and Fred and Louis out of detention tonight. But you aren't going to change your mind, are you? _Sir_?" he added in hurriedly.

"No, I am not going to change my mind, Potter. Now, Miss Weasley, what do you want?" Scorpius walked back to his seat, looking back at Rose and Albus hatefully.

"I just wanted to say that my uncle, Harry Potter, told me to tell you he's arriving in half an hour and starts teaching tomorrow," said Rose.

Albus looked at Rose with disbelief. "What? How come he didn't tell me?"

"Because I wrote to him this morning and he replied to me just now. I guess he figured I'd tell you." Rose shrugged.

Albus looked a bit worried. "Sir, can you just reschedule their detention? If my dad comes and finds out that they have detention on the second day, then they'll get in trouble and he'll tell my mum and their parents. Haven't you heard the howlers Aunt Fleur sends? Believe me, no one wants to hear that, even if it's not addressed to them."

Snape curled his lip in disdain. "How touching, Potter. Your concern for your troublesome older brother and equally troublesome older cousins has just landed you in detention with them."

Albus looked like he'd just been told his parents wanted to disown him. "What? Why?"

"You had the nerve to question my methods. Now go back to your seat. The bell has just rung." This was true. The class was now settled in and listening intently to the conversation Snape was having with the kids.

"But that's unfair!" Rose said.

"I suggest you go to your seat right this instant as well, Miss Weasley. Unless you'd like to join him in detention tonight?"

Rose hesitated for a split second, then said, "I'd love to. See you tonight," she said coldly before joining Albus on the way back to their desks.

Snape blinked. Was this seriously know-it-all Hermione Granger's daughter? Rose had displayed more attitude than either of the Potter boys in a matter of seconds!

"Excellent. The more the merrier. It seems like this will be one epic family gathering in my office tonight," Snape said sarcastically.

The entire class had heard this exchange and was saying, "Oooh," to Rose. Albus looked worried about his detention, but still found the nerve to tell her loudly, "Nice one, Rose."

But when he saw Snape looking at him right after he said it, he hastily tried to avoid his eye contact.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to the offspring of the golden trio, I see."

The whole class was distracted all throughout the lesson, since everyone was too busy staring at and whispering about Rose and Albus.

"Settle down, settle down." Snape tried to get the class to concentrate on his lecture about gnomes. He assigned them questions to do and came around, swooping down on unsuspecting students as he quizzed them on what they thought the right answers were.

Rose and Albus both appeared to be very studious as they helped each other out with the assignment. They both had their heads down and focused on their work, while Scorpius was busy socializing and occasionally paused to jot down a sentence or two. Anyone could tell from simply being in their presence that they were very close. Albus kept reaching over to cross out Rose's wrong answers and she tapped him on the head with her quill whenever she wanted to get his attention to ask a question, as a comeback for his annoying behavior, but in the end both rolled their eyes at one another and smiled. Snape could see them sharing one or two jokes every once in a while after looking over their shoulders to make sure Snape wasn't watching.

They reminded Snape very much of how he and Lily had been at that age. They had both been just as studious, just as close.

When the bell rang, Snape walked out into the corridor, and Albus bumped into Snape on his way out of the classroom.

"Mr. Potter, watch where you're going." But Albus didn't seem to have heard. He stayed where he was and tugged on Rose's arm. He pointed to the end of the hall and she pulled both of them behind a suit of armor.

Snape, curious now, looked to where Albus had been pointing. Harry Potter had arrived and was chatting with Dumbledore.

And Snape had a lot to share with Harry about his sons' behavior.


	15. Chapter 15

Snape saw Harry and Dumbledore walk past the suit of armor behind which Rose and Albus were hiding. They were on their way to the Great Hall for lunch. Snape decided to go to lunch and tell Harry all about how five of his young family members had landed themselves in detention on the second day of school.

Harry and Dumbledore had both gotten themselves seated at the high table by the time Snape reached it.

Before he could say anything to Harry, a girl with shoulder-length fiery red curls emerged from beneath the table.

"Molly!" Harry looked surprised, but then he smiled teasingly and said, "I don't recall any of my nieces or nephews hiding under the staff table to speak to me past the age of eleven. And I remember you having a very impressive thirteenth birthday party back in July, kiddo."

"Yeah, it was pretty impressive, wasn't it? Except for the fact that James blew the candles out for me and Lucy got mad at him, and then Hugo wanted to blow out the candles, too….Anyways, I don't have a lot of time before your fan girls all pour in and notice that I'm talking to you -"

" - Yes, especially after the way Teddy was interrogated by all those screaming fan girls that one time they caught him speaking to me-"

"I've heard. So, I was wondering if you could come quickly to the quidditch pitch and…um…see some of my quidditch moves and give pointers? You know, while everyone else is inside and won't bother you?" She glanced over at the Gryffindor table, met Fred's eyes, and nodded very slightly.

She looked at Harry, now with some anxiety, most likely hoping Harry would buy her story without suspecting it was all an excuse to distract him from something, which Snape thought it was.

Harry looked a tad suspicious as he said, "Of course, sweetie," and looked at the Gryffindor table.

"Professor Snape?" Harry asked. As he said this, Molly's bright brown eyes widened in panic.

"_Yes_, Potter? What is it?"

"I see Rose and Albus aren't here. Can you go look for them and figure out what's up?"

"Actually, I know exactly -" Snape was starting to say, but Harry had already began the process of dodging fans on his way to the doors before he could finish.

Then again, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to go look for Albus and Rose. Who knew what they were getting up to?

As Snape passed the Gryffindor table, he saw that James was looking terribly moody as Louis lectured him about something.

_Who's Louis Weasley to lecture James Potter about anything? Especially since he _allows_ Potter to drag him into his mischief? _Snape mused.

It didn't take long to locate Albus and Rose.

"Potter! Weasley! Still hiding behind that suit of armor? And I was told Gryffindors were brave. I fear the sorting hat may be going senile."

He heard Albus give a sigh of relief and say to Rose, "Rosie, do you think it's okay to come out now?"

"Potter, you insolent boy! I ordered you to come out of there, did I not? You may not have realized, but Weasley is not your teacher, and therefore, she does not get to dictate what you are allowed to do. You're just like your father. He never set much store by the rules, either."

Both of the kids stepped out from behind the suit of armor, glaring at him.

Snape said, "Now come with me. I believe a certain Harry Potter would like to see you two."


	16. Chapter 16

"Well?" Snape inquired upon realizing the kids weren't following him.

Neither Albus nor Rose said anything. Instead they scrambled off in the other direction and appeared to be trying to get as far away as possible from Snape.

Snape proceeded to chase after them. Before he'd gotten too far, a giant cookie soared through the air and narrowly missed colliding with his face, causing him to stop in his tracks. This allowed enough time for him to lose track of where the kids had been running off to.

Snape looked around and saw Molly and Harry strolling along the corridor. Molly was eating a large chocolate chip cookie that looked similar to the one she'd, no doubt, thrown herself. Harry was holding in laughter and didn't seem cross at Molly. On the contrary, he looked at her amusedly and then his eyes met Snape's.

"It started raining and I couldn't fly, so Uncle Harry made it up to me by taking me down to the kitchens to stock up on desserts for everyone in Gryffindor Tower -"

" - On the condition that she promises to keep the majority of it out of James's reach because Merlin knows that boy has a sweet tooth." Harry added, grinning, and he held up a bag that was filled to the brim with assorted cookies, pies, and donuts, and who knew what other rubbish.

"And," Harry continued, still grinning, "I'm glad we decided to go this way instead of taking the other route. Because now, Professor Snape, I can deduce for myself that Rose and Albus are in trouble with you and that Molly here was trying to distract you from catching them, and I feel like there's more to this story. So, Professor, tell me what's going on. Did you catch them stealing a quill or something? Is that what this is all about? They can't have done anything too bad and I know that you desperately want Slytherin to win the house cup this year."

When Molly saw Snape opening his mouth to explain, she immediately jumped in with, "No! Professor Snape, I'll tell him!"

She flinched under Snape's unwavering glare before saying, "Uncle Harry, just go to Professor Snape's office at seven tonight."

The bell rang and the three of them parted ways as students came filing out of the Great Hall. Snape and Molly walked away. Snape noticed Harry was eyeing James curiously. James had just come out of the Great Hall and was running in the opposite direction upon seeing Harry, pulling Fred and Louis with him, both of whom seeming to have no idea why James was dragging them away in such a panicky fashion.


	17. Chapter 17

Finally. It was seven o'clock. Snape sat at his desk and waited for the knock on the door.

At first, he heard many annoyed voices arguing with one another, and then the knock sounded.

"Enter."

James came in first, looking arrogant as ever. He looked like he was trying very hard to keep this act up. He barely glanced in Snape's direction. Albus came right in after him with now confident strides. He didn't seem to be faking his mood like his brother, though. Fred came in next, his eyes glowing with defiance, as he pulled Louis in by the arm. Louis had a sulky look on his face as Rose, who was glaring at him, pushed him in.

"Go clean the store cupboards out and then reorganize everything."

James looked ready for a fight. "How about, 'Good evening?'" It seemed James Sirius Potter wasn't able to control his attitude today.

Snape's eyes glowed with fury. "You dare? You dare to question me when you are the one who landed yourself in here? But I've nearly forgotten, Potter. You, like your parents, think you are above all authority at Hogwarts. You, like your parents when they were at school, think you're completely justified in everything you do because you have a good enough reason for doing foolish things without adult intervention. You're just like your foolhardy parents."

Albus was looking at Snape curiously. "Parents?"

What was this one going on about now? "What?" Snape spat at him.

Albus looked at him full in the face. "My dad says you always used to insult his father, but he never said anything about you insulting his mother. You _never _told him, 'You're just like your parents.' You only said to him, 'You're just like your father.' You just told James he's like our parents. It's strange. My dad should have realized something was going on back when he was in school."

It appeared Albus had a sharp mind to figure this out all on his own, but that didn't excuse him. How dare he bring up this sensitive topic that everyone knew about, thanks to Harry Potter blabbing it in front of Voldemort and all the onlookers during the final battle?

"How is that any of your concern?" Snape wasn't about to get into a deep discussion about what had happened all those years ago.

Albus had the good sense to not respond to this. His green eyes bore into Snape's black ones, and Snape knew the answer to the question. Albus felt it was his concern because Lily was the reason he had such eyes. Because she was his grandmother, who he'd never met, thanks to Snape overhearing the prophecy. But Snape blocked this thought out of his mind.

"Well? Start cleaning!" Snape ordered when he noticed all five children were merely standing there, watching Snape intently.

After a few minutes, a knock came from the door.

"Enter."

It was Harry. He raised his eyebrows as he took in the large number of Potters and Weasleys. None of them looked up from what they were doing, as if trying to pretend Harry wasn't there.

"What are you guys in detention for?" Harry asked, more curious than angry.

As Snape opened his mouth, Harry said, "No, Snape, I'm asking _them _first because I'd prefer an unbiased account of what happened."

All the children blinked in surprise. They'd never seen Harry speak to a teacher like that before.

"Let's start with you two. Al? Rosie? Kids, come here. I really want to hear how the future prefects of the family landed themselves in detention," Harry joked.

They both abandoned their work and rushed over to him. He had one arm each around them as he listened closely.

Albus spoke first. "I asked Professor Snape to reschedule James, Fred, and Louis's detention because I found out you were coming and I didn't want them to get in trouble. But Victoire said I shouldn't be scared because I didn't do anything wrong." He shone Harry innocent puppy dog eyes.

Harry smiled and shook his head. "You're too much, Al."

Rose chimed in with, "And Snape told me I had to go to my seat, or else I'd get detention, and I said I'd love to. I mean, I had to stick up for Albus."

Harry laughed. "Rosie, your parents are going to get a kick out of that."

Harry looked to Snape. "That's what they're in detention for? For sticking up for family?" Harry looked like he had a lot more he'd have liked to say, but he didn't say it.

"What?" James exclaimed. "They're in detention and you don't care? It's the second day of school!"

"Speak for yourself, James. Why are you here this time?" Harry's eyes roamed over James, Fred, and Louis suspiciously. "Honestly, you three have gotten into more trouble than any other students in the whole school. I meant for this generation," he added when he saw Snape about to say something.

James, Fred, and Louis looked at one another, contemplating who should start speaking first. All of them were forceful personalities who liked to take charge, so they often had no problem explaining themselves shamelessly whenever they were caught. It was surprising to Snape that not one of them volunteered to speak up this time.

"Guys, come on." Harry looked weary now.

"Maybe I should tell him what happened?" Rose spoke up, an evil smile forming. "I mean, I do know the full details of _why_ you did what you did."

James jumped. "Fred and Louis can do that perfectly fine, Rosie."

"Well, hurry up and explain! My hair's getting grayer by the minute!" Harry said, winking at Albus and Rose, while James observed jealously.

"Scorpius Malfoy started it." Fred said this very quickly and gave Harry a significant look. "Scorpius Hyperion _Malfoy_. Draco _Malfoy_'s son. Lucius _Malfoy_'s grandson."

"Okay," Harry said. Fred was waiting for him to comment further on this, but Harry just said, "So what did he do?"

Louis sighed shamefully. "We shoved him and two of his friends, but we didn't get into a huge fight. He did punch Fred, though. His mouth was bleeding a lot."

Harry said, "But why did the fight start?"

James spoke up. "It's - It's complicated."

Harry looked surprised. "_What's _complicated?"

Fred said vaguely, "Scorpius sorta stole - er - something - from James, and - er -" He looked at Louis and James desperately.

Harry asked, "Stole something? What'd he steal? Did he give it back or apologize?"

Albus and Rose began laughing so hard that they could barely breathe. Fred and Louis were biting their lips to stop themselves from laughing, but to no avail.

"James -" Louis was struggling to speak through tears of laughter, " - I'm sorry - but I can't - help - it!" Fred and Louis held onto each other for support while they broke out in laughter completely.

Snape shook his head and waited for the big revelation. Harry had been looking a bit stern and exasperated before, but now a smile was tugging at his lips as he observed the scene before him.

"What's the joke, everyone?" Harry asked, his eyes lit with amusement now.

Albus was the first one to overcome his laughter enough to speak properly. "Dad, the thing Scorpius stole from James was a girl. But the thing is, James never was with her in the first place. He asked her out really loudly in front of everyone and she said no, and then Scorpius asked her and she said yes."

James looked horrified. He stared at Albus as though he'd never seen him properly before. James was very nearly incoherent as he spluttered, "I - Al, I didn't know you would - Al, how _could _you - Dad, it's a lie - It - It -"

Harry shook his head and said, "Poor James. You need to learn to be more subtle," and looked even more amused for a few seconds before he said, "But James. You're _twelve_. Victoire wrote to me and said you'd been moping all day."

"She - She did - _What_?"

"Yes. Well, this'll be something to tell your mum, huh?"

"What? No! I mean, it's not - not _true_! I - I -"

"Who is this girl anyway?"

Louis spoke up, grinning. "She's a Slytherin. Hazel Vaisey. Daughter of one of the Slytherin quidditch players that you and Auntie Ginny played against at Hogwarts."

"And the best part is that she's a redhead. So, it's a real loss. He needs to find someone else to continue the Potter tradition with," Rose added.

"Second thought, maybe Ginny wouldn't like to hear about this. Vaisey was a pretty good chaser," said Harry grudgingly, "so naturally everyone had something against him. We require a different daughter-in-law, James."

"Dad! _Go_!" James suddenly began cleaning out the storage cupboard as though his life depended on it, hiding his face in shame as he did so, so his voice was muffled through the sleeves of his robes.

"Okay, okay. But Albus and Rose are coming with me and I'm leaving you two here. You didn't need to get into a fight with Scorpius Malfoy over this."

Snape felt outraged. Harry hadn't even asked for permission to take them out of detention! "Stop! I am their teacher and it was I who put them in detention for their wrongdoings -"

Not one person in the room acknowledged him. Just before he left, James shouted out to Harry in a hurry, "Please buy me candy from Honeydukes! I'll be needing it! To…to feel better. Please, Dad?" He gave innocent puppy dog eyes.

"Aw, James has a broken heart!" Rose commented.

Harry said, "I'll take Albus and Rose with me and we'll do just that." Harry turned to face Snape. "James told me all last year that you kept saying he has no respect because of who his parents are. But he's obviously been raised well because he just said please twice, didn't he?"

Snape didn't answer, but Harry left with Rose and Albus looking triumphant by his side.

When the door shut, James mumbled to Fred and Louis, "I'm sorry I got you guys in trouble."

"No, James. _We're _sorry for letting _you _get in trouble," said Fred.

"I hope you feel better soon, James," Louis added.

Snape shouted, "You three better be working hard on that storage cupboard over there!"

"Yes, sir!"


	18. Chapter 18

Snape was walking with Dumbledore on his way to breakfast when Harry came out of nowhere and joined them.

"Professor Snape! Professor Dumbledore! How are you doing?"

Harry never seemed to understand that Snape didn't want him anywhere near him, but that didn't stop him from trying.

Dumbledore replied, "Very well, my boy. Are you excited to be teaching today, Harry?"

"Of course. The kids are always amazing to be around -"

James and Albus jumped out from behind a statue they had been passing by and everyone ceased walking. "Boo!" they both yelled out.

Harry and Dumbledore chuckled, while Snape glared at them.

Albus made straight for Harry and hugged him, greeting Dumbledore and Snape in the process. James stood next to the statue looking haughty and said, "Good morning, everyone."

Harry looked a bit confused. "James, don't tell me you're still mad at me?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not mad at someone who gave me all that candy last night."

Albus rolled his eyes at this. "Well then, why aren't you hugging Dad?"

Harry wore an amused expression. "Oh, I get it. Ever since he turned twelve, he's been embarrassed to be seen around me and Ginny. You should have seen him at King's Cross two days ago. Ran off with all his little friends and nearly forgot to say bye to us!"

This surprised Snape. He knew James constantly bragged about his famous parents, but he supposed hugging them in public was a completely different matter to the boy.

Dumbledore laughed. "I expect he's going through a phase and will come out of it in no time. My brother, Aberforth, was the same way."

James looked appalled at being compared to Aberforth Dumbledore, but he didn't voice his opinion on the matter. Instead, he pulled a bar of Honeydukes chocolate out of his pocket. Harry snatched it out of his hand as James opened his mouth widely to take a bite.

"Dad! I'm hungry!"

Harry shook his head, disbelieving. "Speaking of which, maybe we should start walking to the Great Hall again."

Before anyone could start up walking again, however, Molly bounded out of nowhere and punched James's arm very hard. Percy's oldest daughter could sure throw a punch.

James hissed in pain, rubbing his arm. "Molly, what did I do this time?"

"You remember what we were talking about at the sorting ceremony?" Molly looked furious.

Albus looked interested. "Yeah, you guys were arguing about -"

"Shut up, Al! No one asked you!" said James.

Harry shot James a strict look. "If I hear you say that to your brother again -"

Albus seemed unfazed by James's words, for the most part, and cut Harry off. "You guys were arguing about James's plan to ask that Vaisey girl…you know…" he trailed off, looking at Dumbledore in a paranoid way.

Harry noticed this. "Al, you don't need to be all secretive around Professor Dumbledore. He knows _everything_. Everyone in the whole school knows, actually."

This thought didn't appear to comfort Albus in the slightest.

"Yep, that's right, Al," Molly said kindly to Albus. She then looked at James and said in an annoyed tone, "And you should have listened to me when I said it was a stupid idea because now Grandma Molly is bugging me about it."

James looked shocked. "You wrote to her about this? What the bloody h-"

"James!"

"Sorry, Dad. Molly, what is - What's _wrong _with you? You told our grandmother this?"

"Well, I was annoyed and I wanted to write to Grandma, so I just decided to tell her what I was mad about. Anyways, she's mad at me now because apparently Dominique wrote to her and lied to get me in trouble because she thought it would be funny and said I ended up encouraging James to do it in the end and that he landed himself and Fred and Louis in detention."

"And I should care because?"

Molly huffed in frustration and she and Albus started walking with great speed together down the hall.

Harry shook his head and said, "These kids fight like cat and dog. It's unbelievable."

The rest of them resumed walking.

At breakfast, Harry pointed at the three owls coming in through the windows with red letters clutched in their beaks.

"That's Ginny's owl! And Fleur's. _And_ Angelina's." Harry sat back and watched in anticipation, breaking off a square of James's Honeydukes chocolate and eating it.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Please feel free to take my story idea and write your own story about Snape meeting the Potter kids in person! I'd love to read it!

Finally! They were going to get _exactly _what they deserved. The women in the Potter and Weasley families had finally had too much and wanted to teach their sons a lesson.

James, Louis, and Fred were sitting together, eating chocolate chip waffles and chatting animatedly with their fellow Gryffindors, when the owls landed next to each of them.

Victoire and Dominique looked at their brother's howler as though Christmas had come early, while Albus looked like he was taking pity on James.

James shouted, "I'M NOT OPENING IT! LET IT EXPLODE IF IT WANTS TO! I'LL SIT RIGHT HERE AND LISTEN TO IT AND SHOW THAT I DON'T CARE!" and folded his arms stubbornly. This caused the entire hall to go silent. It seemed like every eye was on the scene at the Gryffindor table.

As the three howlers began to smoke, Louis jumped up and accidentally backed up into the Ravenclaw table. Fred kept glancing underneath the table as though he had half a mind to go down there and cower in fright.

Molly exclaimed, "Just open it! It won't be so bad -"

"Yes, it will!" James shouted.

Fred grabbed his letter and offered it to Molly. "Here! Do you, by any chance, want to open it?"

She shrieked, "No! Get it away from me!" and Fred began chasing her around the Great Hall with the letter held high above his head by the tips of his fingers.

Louis picked up the letter and juggled it from hand to hand as though it were a very hot bowl of soup. He raced to the window and beckoned his mother's owl to come over to him. "Here, Chirpy! Take this letter and drop it outside! Wait - Wait - Chirpy! Come back!"

Chirpy the owl didn't seem to think Louis's plea for help was of any importance, since it ruffled its feathers and flew out the window with a dignified hoot, Ginny and Angelina's owls following suit.

Louis stood around looking devastated and ran for the doors, but several older Gryffindor boys blocked the doors to mess with him. So, he stood around some more and looked even more devastated.

There was a lot of shouting echoing off the walls as Lucy and Rose begged James to open the letter and get it over with, and as Lorcan and Lysander shouted for James to keep ignoring it.

Then the explosion happened. Snape couldn't remember three howlers ever being let off at once before.

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER!" James clapped a hand to his ears and flinched, but remained where he was. "DRACO MALFOY HAS CONTACTED ME AND IS FURIOUS THAT YOU ATTACKED HIS SON! IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER, I WILL COME UP TO THE SCHOOL MYSELF AND -"

"LOUIS WEASLEY! 'OW DARE YOU DISGRACE ME AND YOUR FAZZER LIKE ZIS! WE WORK SO 'ARD FOR YOU AND COME HOME TO RECEIVE A LETTAIR OF COMPLAINT FROM ASTORIA MALFOY? VICTOIRE AND DOMINIQUE 'AVE NEVAIR CAUSED SUCH TROUBLE BEFORE -"

"FRED WEASLEY! YOUR UNCLE PERCY IS BESIDE HIMSELF! YOU SHOULD TAKE A LEAF FROM ONE OF HIS DAUGHTERS' BOOKS! NARCISSA MALFOY SHOWED UP ON MY DOORSTEP TO DEMAND AN APOLOGY! YES, _NARCISSA MALFOY! _SEE WHAT YOU'VE CAUSED -"

"YOUR FATHER IS AN AUROR, JAMES, AND THIS IS HOW YOU BEHAVE? STAY AWAY FROM SCORPIUS -"

"LOUIS, EEF YOUR UNCLE 'ARRY EVAIR TELLS ME ZAT YOU ARE BULLYING YOUNGAIR STUDENTS AGAIN -"

"I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOUR FATHER AND UNCLE RON WOULD HAVE A BAD INFLUENCE ON YOU ONE DAY, FRED! THEY STILL ACT CHILDISH, EVEN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS -"

It was pure madness. The students were snickering and the staff was groaning at the three different voices bouncing off the walls loudly with a few French words thrown in here and there from Fleur. James was still trying to ignore the screaming and Louis stood where he was the entire time with his fingers in his ears. Fred and Molly were cowering together on the far side of the hall.

Then it was all over. All three boys looked shaken and embarrassed as everyone continued to stare at them amusedly.

Harry got up. "I need to go make floo calls to Fleur and Bill, Angelina and George, and Ginny. I had no idea that the Malfoys knew about this."

Snape could see Scorpius Malfoy looking very triumphant indeed as Harry hurried out. There was no doubt he'd written an exaggerated letter of complaint to his family about this.

But Snape wasn't one to complain when a Potter or a Weasley got into trouble with a Malfoy.


	20. Chapter 20

"Severus?" McGonagall asked Snape as soon as Harry had left.

"Yes, Minerva?"

"You should go check on him and make sure he isn't about to do anything too rash," she said, jerking her head towards the doors Harry had just left, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why? What do you think he could possibly do that would be considered rash -"

"Severus, you know exactly what I mean! He might try to reason with the Malfoys and end up in an altercation of some sort, but he would listen to you, of all people, if you told him not to get too carried away -"

"Last time I checked, Harry Potter was a thirty-six year old man, and therefore, perfectly capable of making his own decisions about how to deal with old enemies -"

"And you and Sirius Black were more or less the same age he is now, yet I recall many duels nearly breaking out during Order meetings on a regular basis. Speaking of Sirius Black, didn't Harry rush off to the Department of Mysteries to save him, a decision not very well thought out, which resulted in Black's death? Severus, all I'm asking is that you aid him should the need arise. Now go." There was no arguing with Minerva McGonagall when she got like this.

So, Snape got up and headed for Harry's guest quarters. The door was wide open and Harry was rummaging around in his suitcase, looking for something frantically, a determined expression on his face that Snape recognized all too well.

"Potter! What are you doing?" Harry jumped, having not realized Snape was there.

He resumed his search, muttering, "Just looking for my wand. Thought it was in my pocket, but I guess not."

"What would you need your wand for? I thought you were going to merely have a chat with a few family members?"

"I was planning on speaking with the Malfoys, as well. And it's always good to be prepared for a physical confrontation when it comes to them. Of course, I know this from past experience," Harry paused and looked at Snape. "Why are you here, by the way?"

A voice from the doorway spoke before Snape could. "Because I told him to be here and assist you in any way that he could."

It was McGonagall, who had Scorpius Malfoy by her side. "Now," she said firmly, turning to Scorpius, "give Mr. Potter back his wand and apologize."

Scorpius, who was clearly in a bad mood, walked up to Harry and held out the wand. "Sorry, Mr. Potter."

"Thank you, Scorpius."

Scorpius looked curiously at Harry. "How do you know my name?"

Harry smiled at him as though this weren't the son of his school rival. "You look exactly like your father, and I've heard from some people at work that Draco Malfoy's son was named Scorpius. So, how did you get my wand?"

"Your son apparently stole it from you while you were walking to breakfast."

"Was it the older one or the one that's your age?"

"The older one. James. The one that beat me up really badly." Harry raised his eyebrows at this, but he didn't interrupt. "He gave it to your niece for safe-keeping. The one that's the same age as James, the one with the brown hair. Lucy, I think her name is. I stole it from her when she wasn't looking."

Right on queue, James came running through the door, panting. "Dad! I - I was playing around with you - I stole - I mean, took - your wand - and Lucy lost -"

Then James took in the scene before him. His eyes darted from the wand in Harry's hand to Scorpius, and it looked like he was putting two and two together.

"Malfoy! You stole from my cousin? You stole from a _girl_?"

Harry tried to calm him down. "James, everything is _fine_. Scorpius has come clean and I accept his apology."

Snape knew from the look on Harry's face that he didn't really believe Scorpius and didn't really accept his apology, and that he was only saying this to prevent another fight between James and Scorpius breaking out.

McGonagall said, "Well, in any case, Harry, I have ordered Severus to assist you in correcting this situation -"

"That won't be necessary! Really, I've got it under control -"

"No, I _insist_. Goodness knows you need someone to help you who isn't prone to rash behavior -"

"Professor, really. I can handle -"

"Severus is the only suitable person here with a free schedule. This is my final word on the matter." She turned to leave. Scorpius made to follow her.

"Scorpius?" Harry asked. As he and Scorpius made eye contact, he continued, "Next time, don't exaggerate in your letters to home, alright?"

Scorpius looked as guilty as if he'd been caught with his hand in a cookie jar. His face turned red and he replied quietly, "Okay," with his lips barely moving. He left.

James was the only one left, apart from Snape and Harry.

"Potter, get to class."

"Sir, shouldn't you be teaching instead of going on an adventure with an old friend?" James replied, grinning.

"My classes do not start until a few hours from now, as you are very well aware."

"Mine, neither! That's convenient because it means I get to come with you wherever you're going!"

Harry spoke up with, "James, you do realize my first stop is _our _house, don't you? I can't imagine you'd want to see your mum after that howler -"

"But she won't be mad at me forever. I was her very first kid, and so I'm special." He was still grinning widely as ever.

"Well, we'll see, won't we?" Harry picked up the floo powder, tossed it into the flames, and said, "Potter residence!"

Snape could see all the signs of bad parenting. Harry was allowing a badly behaved twelve-year-old to come along with him to do an important job that had nothing to do with him!

James flooed to his house after Harry did, and Snape followed soon after, although it was against his better judgment.


	21. Chapter 21

The Potters' living room was neat and well furnished with burgundy curtains and a matching rug. The sofa was spotlessly white, the side tables see-through with delicate glass. There was a large moving photo in the center of the wall of Harry and Ginny's wedding day, and he could see there were several more photos on the shelves, but he couldn't see who was in them from where he was standing.

There were some obvious signs that a little girl currently inhabited this place. There was a doll on the floor next to the plasma-screen television and a neon pink toy wand left on a coffee table. Left carelessly on the couch was a child's drawing of a castle, although it was done in pink and purple ink that kept flashing to blue and green.

"I see Mum cleaned up all my extra exploding snap cards and Albus's broomstick!" James stated proudly.

"James." Harry wore an amused expression. "_I _cleaned it all up."

"Oh. Well, good job because the place looks spotless now!"

Ruffling James's hair good-naturedly, Harry smiled widely and said, "You're far too hilarious for me to allow Ginny to get her hands on you again. She thinks what happened yesterday was worse than it really was, so hide in the closet for the time being while I assure her it was nothing." Harry pointed to the closet in the corner.

James looked confused but seemed to think Harry knew what he was doing, for surprisingly, he didn't put up any sort of argument and hid in the closet.

"James, only come out when I tell you it's your queue to do so, alright?"

Snape thought he could hear James's muffled voice saying, "This is _not _what I signed up for when I volunteered to come."

"Professor Snape -" Harry started.

"Potter, let me get something straight here. You will not address me as though you are an imbecile while in the company of the Malfoys, your wife, and whoever else we come across. I won't tolerate this nonsense any longer. No more of this 'Sir' and 'Professor Snape' rubbish."

"Agreed, Sir - er - _Severus_." As Harry stumbled over his words in this disgraceful manner, Snape noted a muffled snigger coming from the closet and scowled.

Harry pushed open the kitchen door and called, "Ginny? Lily?"

Then a woman's distant voice from outside screamed, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT TAKING THIS TO THE WIZENGAMOT HIGH COURT?"

Harry and Snape moved closer to the source of the noise, which turned out to be the backyard. They stayed inside and looked out through the French doors to see Ginny and Astoria engaged in a shouting match with several onlookers present.

George, who was sitting on a swing, constantly added to Ginny's arguments as though hoping this would make Astoria look foolish, and both he and Bill looked proud of Ginny. Fleur looked as though she would have smacked Draco around the head if Angelina hadn't been patting her on the arm. But while Angelina was attempting to comfort her sister-in-law, she herself looked ready to attack Narcissa, who had fire in her eyes as she looked proudly over at Astoria.

Ginny put her hands on her head in frustration, shouted something about making coffee, and came inside to where Harry and Snape were.

The frustrated expression on her face went away and her entire face lit up when she saw Harry, and his face lit up as well, even though he'd only been gone from home for less than twenty-four hours. "Lily is at Ron and Hermione's house with Roxanne for a play date with Hugo while we sort everything out. Not that much _has _been sorted out so far, mind you. You've heard about what's going on from the howler, I suppose?"

Without waiting for an answer, she asked Snape, "And you've come to help, too? Good….Good….Now come with me. It's been a complete nightmare out there for over an hour and I need as much help as I can get." Whatever surprise she had felt upon seeing Severus Snape in the Potter household was most likely overridden by the rage she felt towards the Malfoys.

She burst open the French doors, and the large amount of arguing that had been going on in her absence stopped immediately once everyone realized Harry Potter and Severus Snape had arrived. Draco and Narcissa looked scared. Harry was a high-ranking ministry official these days, after all.

Astoria, who had been pulling Fleur's hair, let go immediately and rushed up to Harry, all anger in her face disappearing and slight fear mixed with eagerness replaced it.

"Harry Potter! How wonderful it is to meet you after all the things I've heard about you! You might remember me as Astoria Greengrass? I was two years below you in school -"

"I would say it's nice to meet you as well, but given the circumstances -"

"I always knew you'd one day vanquish the dark lord, and the Malfoy family is so _very_ thankful -" Astoria continued, her hands now on Harry's shoulders while he looked uncomfortable.

George howled in derisive laughter. "What a load of rubbish!" Draco glared at him.

Astoria went on. "I've seen photos of your children in _Witch Weekly_ and aren't they adorable? I would have never been able to tell from the photo that your oldest would attack Scorpius -"

"Astoria, get off of me and please get to the point -"

" 'Arry, you're being too much of a gentleman! You can't allow 'er to suck up to you in such a way!" Fleur shouted.

Astoria was now practically hugging Harry with her arms flung around his neck as though she was under the impression that he was her soul mate, and he seemed to be trying to gently pry her off of him.

Snape had no clue what Draco was doing simply standing there while his wife got on like this. Meanwhile, Ginny looked frozen to the ground in outrage at Astoria and seemed unable to utter a word or get a full grasp of whatever it was that Draco's wife was trying to do.

Harry looked horrified. "Astoria, get off of me! Winning me over isn't going to work! Severus actually witnessed what happened with the boys -"

Astoria ignored him once more, her head resting on his neck as he tried to push her away without hurting her. "Harry, I never got to tell you when we were in school that I had a small crush on you. I mean, didn't every girl feel the same way after word had gotten out that you were the Chosen One?"

There was a hushed silence until Ginny swooped in and pulled Astoria off of Harry by her hair. Harry looked very grateful for this and there was a proud gleam in his eyes as he saw Ginny scream at Astoria.

"HOW DARE YOU? How dare you fling yourself at my husband like a -"

"Ginny, you ruined the show by interfering," George said, grinning. "I was actually interested in listening to where she was going with that last statement -"

Ginny rounded on George, hands on her hips in a way that reminded Snape of her mother. "How could you say something like that? George Weasley, that is nothing to joke about -"

"Maybe we should all calm down -" Harry interjected.

Ginny didn't seem to have heard, since she turned back to Astoria and said, "My husband is a decent man and would never stoop so low as to comply with something like what you were just demonstrating -"

"Enough!" Angelina was trying to break up the fight. She succeeded in pulling apart the two women.

"Now! I suggest the Malfoys hear out whatever Harry and Severus have to say so that we can all get on with our days! _Without interruption_." No one looked prepared to argue with Angelina, so Snape felt it was okay to start speaking.

"I don't know what everyone thinks happened, but I happened to witness the fight that went on yesterday, and let me assure you that no one was badly injured. Fred Weasley's mouth was bleeding, but that is all."

"Scorpius didn't break his arm? He doesn't have any bruises? He didn't black out? I was going to visit him in the hospital wing later today." Draco looked as though he had a hard time believing Snape.

"No," Harry said. "Your son lied, plain and simple. And I can bring you a witness who is _very _sorry about what happened." Harry walked inside with a strange glint in his eyes.

Harry's family looked relieved that it turned out James, Fred, and Louis weren't the most aggressive schoolchildren in the world, after all.

Snape saw Harry whispering something conspiratorially in James's ear before opening the doors to come outside again, and James looked at Harry as though whatever he had told him was too good to be true.

"Mr. Malfoy. Mrs. Malfoy and Mrs. Malfoy." James bowed to each person he addressed. "My name is James Potter. I'm the one that you all, based on Scorpius's letter, think attacked him. I can't even - My vocabulary isn't large enough to express how sorry I am." He faked a convincingly sad smile that was complete with wide, warm brown puppy dog eyes.

Narcissa narrowed her eyes. "And what is it that you are so sorry about? I thought, according to your father, my grandson lied about you attacking him? "

"Well, ma'am, I just feel so terribleabout _emotionally_ hurting him."

James gave a dramatic pause. Everyone raised their eyebrows, waiting for him to continue.

He let out a sigh. "I really wanted Scorpius to become my friend. Really badly. I thought that maybe - maybe - possibly - we could be different than our fathers and get on well at school and correct the past!" His tone became more upbeat, but then it strategically slowed down again. "But he didn't want to hear any of it. That's why we weren't able to get along yesterday. That's how I hurt him emotionally. Because we have different mindsets. That's the reason we argued yesterday. He wants to repeat the past and I don't. I wanted a better future. He seems like such a nice kid and I know in my heart we could get along if we wanted to."

There was a long silence. The Weasleys all knew when James was lying, and they were smirking in the background as the Malfoys contemplated James's words with shock.

"I - I'll write to Scorpius and ask him to better his behavior," Astoria said.

Narcissa and Draco nodded.

Astoria cleared her throat, purposely avoiding Ginny's eye contact after their earlier confrontation involving Harry. "Well, we'll be off then." The three of them disapparated.

Everyone came over to congratulate James.

"Dad?" James asked.

"Yes, James?"

"I actually snuck over to the door for a little while when you were out here-"

"Of course you did."

"And I kinda saw Scorpius's mom….You do realize you've gone from having seventh year girls flocking towards you to having a married woman fawning over you, right?"


	22. Chapter 22

Another year went by, and now it was two hours before the Halloween feast was due to start. James, who was now a third year, was part of the group of students who were returning from their trip to Hogsmeade.

Then Snape noticed something was off. Why was Roxanne Weasley, who was only a first year, walking with James into the castle? More importantly, why did every Weasley child turn out to be a rule-breaking Gryffindor?

Cursing under his breath, Snape went towards the group of troublemakers James and Roxanne were gathered in, which consisted of the Scamander twins and two other boys who were also third year Gryffindors. All the children were laughing merrily at some joke, but when they saw Snape approaching, they all groaned conspicuously.

"Miss Weasley! I believe you are a first year, and therefore, I find it peculiar that you would be in a group of third years who are _returning from Hogsmeade_." As Snape said this, James and the Scamander twins shot him a look of hatred and gathered closer to Roxanne in a protective manner.

"How do you know I wasn't just outside when they returned and wanted to come back in with them?" Roxanne said this all very innocently, but Snape knew better. This _was _Fred Weasley's little sister.

Slughorn suddenly appeared around the corner at that moment.

"Ah, I couldn't help but overhear what is going on here. Now, now, Severus, you mustn't be so quick to judge. Perhaps little Roxanne here is telling the truth!"

"Innocent until proven guilty," James said with a smirk at Snape, and Slughorn nodded importantly at him.

"Exactly, m'boy!"

"Innocent until proven guilty, Potter? Indeed! Then we must ask Mr. Filch if he recalls Miss Weasley leaving the castle." James immediately dropped his smirk at Snape's words.

"Professor Slughorn, do _you _think this is necessary? Does it really matter?" James asked Slughorn hopefully.

Slughorn thought for a moment, and then he said, "Well, I suppose not. There's no need to get ourselves worked up over the matter as of right now. There's no concrete reason to be suspicious, after all. But next time," he paused to give a wink at Roxanne before continuing, "be sure not to sneak out of the castle and no suspicions will arise. Understood?"

Once Roxanne had nodded with a sweet smile, Slughorn steered Snape further down the hall by his shoulders, speaking merrily about how smart and delightful Roxanne was, and the group of six kids happened to be walking behind them, chattering obnoxiously.

They hadn't gotten too far down the hall when Snape heard small footsteps running behind him. Both Snape and Slughorn turned around briefly and saw Albus running towards James with a panicked look in his eyes, slowing down to walk with the same pace as him and the others.

Curious about what they were up to now, Snape listened carefully to the conversation that was effectively echoing off the walls instead of Slughorn's rambling, which he had continued after assuming that nothing was wrong.

"James, do you have the invisi - uh - the cloak?" Albus asked.

Snape's ears had caught the incompletely uttered word. Albus had been about to say "invisibility cloak" but had caught himself to keep him and Slughorn from hearing.

James's voice was lowered a bit as he replied, "I gave it to Roxanne. She was - er - using it earlier for something."

There it was. Roxanne had hidden under the invisibility cloak to sneak out of Hogwarts. But that wasn't specific enough of a confession for Snape to get the girl in trouble.

"Well, I need it for something."

"For what, Al? Sneaking to Hogsmeade? Can you bring me back something that you buy?" James's voice momentarily rose with eagerness.

"No! I'm not going to Hogsmeade! I'll tell you later! Can I see what's in your Zonko's bag?"

"No, since you still haven't given me back my map yet. You better not have lost it -"

"James, you _always _do this! I want to see what you bought! Mum and Dad told you to share with me -"

"Share with you? I thought you just wanted to look at it! I bought this with my own money! Hey, don't pull at the bag like that, or else everything's going to fall out -"

"Stop shoving me and maybe I'll stop pulling the bag!"

Then suddenly a large amount of shouting broke out and Snape and Slughorn turned around.

James and Albus were having a scuffle on the floor while Lorcan tried desperately to gather up all the Zonko's products and repair the ripped plastic bag. Roxanne and Lysander attempted to stop Albus, while the other two boys tried to pull James up.

"Boys, stop! Stop at once!" Slughorn's voice was like an instant remedy to the chaos, for both Potter brothers stopped fighting upon hearing it. James and Albus got up. They looked a bit ashamed of themselves and mumbled apologies to Slughorn.

Before Slughorn could be affected by the favoritism he had for the Potter boys, Snape said, "Apologies won't do it. This is the tenth time this year that you two have engaged in ridiculous squabbles. Come to my office and we will have a little chat."

"But -" Albus kicked James in the leg before he could say anything more and whispered something quickly in his ear. Then he whispered something in Roxanne's ear and Snape could feel his blood pressure rising.

"I said for you to _come with me_. Not hiss secrets to each other -"

"Severus," Slughorn began, "perhaps it would be better for me to speak with them instead -"

"No!" Albus shouted. James looked terribly confused at Albus but kept his mouth shut this time. "We'll go with Professor Snape, but thanks for the offer, Professor Slughorn." Then he looked away from everyone as though hoping no questions would come his way.

Snape led the two to his office, wondering the whole time what Albus Potter could possibly be up to.


	23. Chapter 23

Snape swiftly conjured up two chairs across from his desk.

"Sit down!"

As the boys took their seats, Albus looked around in wonder. "James, I really like your taste in decoration." When he saw Snape looking at him hatefully, though, he seemed to remember he was in trouble and not here to admire room décor.

James was a different story. He'd gotten in so much trouble by this point and had such little fear of bending rules in the first place that he never seemed to take a situation like this seriously. "I _do _have fine taste in these things, if I do say so myself, dear brother," he said in a mock sophisticated tone.

"Yes, and it seems as though both of you also have fine taste in ways to create sticky situations for yourselves, which brings us to whywe are here in my office."

Before Snape could give them a real piece of his mind, before he could tell them he'd had enough of their open sibling rivalry, there came a knock from the door.

"Enter," Snape said through gritted teeth. Perhaps whoever it was wouldn't be able to hear him and would go away.

Alas, to his disappointment, the person had, in fact, heard him and the person in question turned out to be Rose Weasley.

"Professor Sinistra wants to see you _right now_, sir! There's no time to waste because it's really important that she speaks with you immediately about something really serious but she wouldn't tell me what it is, just that I had to fetch you -" Rose only stopped speaking at this rapid pace when Snape put his hand up to indicate for her to stop.

"I will be there immediately. You two," Snape nodded his head at James and Albus frighteningly, "will stay put in this office until I come back."

They both nodded earnestly, and Snape took off with Rose.

Before reaching the spiral staircase that led to Sinistra's office, they saw Sinistra herself at the very top of the staircase with Fred Weasley, and he was very nearly shouting at her, "No, Professor, it's nothing! Nothing to worry about!"

What was so important that a fourteen-year-old boy felt the need to comfort his teacher about it?

"Nonsense, Weasley, you think I'm a fool? If Peeves was trying to warn me while smirking at you, it means you've had something to do with it!"

Rose's face went pale when she saw Sinistra coming further and further down the top of the first set of seven sets of staircases with Fred by her side, avidly assuring her nothing was wrong.

Snape thought about this for a few seconds and then it all made sense to him. Sinistra suspected Fred had done something yet again, and Rose was nervous at the sight of him in trouble. They were planning something. _Again_.

Then Snape heard footsteps running from around the corner to where he and Rose stood.

It was Roxanne and she looked panicked like everyone else, and she was most likely in on this scheme as well. Rapidly, she spoke, "Professor Snape! I know what Professor Sinistra wants to tell you! I overheard her in her office speaking with Professor McGonagall! She - It would be easier on her if you knew before she got down here and you let the info all sink in - Well, this might come as a shock to you - But maybe it'll be a nice one -"

"Miss Weasley, for goodness' sake! Quit speaking in riddles and tell me what you are getting at!"

Roxanne took one look at Sinistra and Fred now on the third flight of stairs and whispered, "She's filing a complaint against you to fire you."

Rose looked at Roxanne as if she were crazy. "Fire him? Are you insane? That's not what you said you were going to_…_"Her expression immediately changed to a fake sort of excitement as she looked at Snape and realized he was watching. "I mean…that's….Yes, I suspected that, too!" Rose then seemed to realize just what she had said and threw a nervous glance at Snape.

Snape didn't need a rocket scientist to tell him this was all a lie. Ignoring the fact that Rose wasn't a very convincing liar, Snape hadn't done anything out of the ordinary recently that would cause someone tough like Sinistra to be concerned.

Sinistra and Fred made it all the way down the staircase and Sinistra began to rush angrily towards Snape.

"Severus! I have to inform you that Peeves came into my office to warn me about a sort of plot he overheard involving some students trying to distract teachers, and that it involves me and you. And I suppose it involves these three as well," she said bitterly, pointing at Roxanne, Rose, and Fred.

"A distraction, is it?" Snape said. Then he realized what exactly they could be trying to distract him from. They had dragged him out of his office, had they not? The Potters were alone in his office, and who knew why Albus had insisted on going with Snape to his office?

"Aurora, I'll leave you to deal with these three. It seems as though they wanted me to believe you were attempting to get me fired. I need to get back to my office." As he said this, Roxanne's eyes widened in horror at the realization that the plan hadn't worked.

Sinistra started a screaming session right then and there. "That is a very serious thing to say! You three have no clue how to conduct yourselves, do you? I'll be writing to your families tonight! And don't think for one second that Professor Snape would be foolish enough to believe such a tall tale! Me try to fire Severus Snape! Why would I fire the man who played such a large part in the war? None of us would be standing here today if it weren't for him -"

None of the kids were paying attention as Sinistra lectured them loudly on their bad behavior. All of them had their focus on Snape as he walked away.

When Snape reached his office, James was gone and Albus was sitting there looking guilty but startled at Snape's early appearance.

"Where is your brother?"

Albus shrugged in response.

"Liar. You whispered to Roxanne Weasley to create a diversion, and I'm sorry to inform you that it _did not work_. You wanted to create a distraction so that your brother could leave and go somewhere. Where did he go? What is he up to?" Snape asked quickly.

Albus stood there, thinking to himself, as Snape pondered Albus's peculiar behavior earlier. He had been most eager to come to Snape's office. Not for a prank. That wasn't his style. If he'd wanted to ask Snape something, he wouldn't have found a way to drive him out of the room. There was only one thing left.

"Turn out your pockets, Potter!"

Albus jumped, obviously not expecting Snape to catch on to this. He reminded Snape of Harry Potter that day he had caught him with that map after sneaking into Hogsmeade in his third year. He reached into the pockets of his robes very slowly and pulled out a torn half of a piece of paper.

"Read it."

Albus still said nothing. He looked like he was trying to not show fear while digging his own grave, and it was this expression he wore while handing it over to Snape face down so that he couldn't see the writing.

Before Snape turned over the paper, Albus shone him a small glance of sympathy.

It was part of a letter. The one he had stolen all those years ago from Grimmauld Place. The one with Lily's signature on it.


	24. Chapter 24

This was the last straw.

Snape's voice came out very low but deadly. "You were rummaging around in my private quarters. _For what reason_, boy? To look for this?"

"I - I was looking for anything like this, anything to do with my grandmother - and I happened to - to recognize the letter from…things I've heard -"

Snape looked into the depths of Albus's eyes, which were staring out at him so pitifully. "GET OUT! _NOW_!" Snape snarled at the insolent twelve-year-old standing before him.

Albus didn't need telling twice. He ran out as Snape threw an ink bottle. It smashed and the contents splattered all over the wall that had been painted over so elaborately two years ago.

Albus was meddlesome, just as meddlesome as his good-for-nothing father who'd had the nerve to look into his pensieve when Snape had left him unattended in his office. Albus was just as disrespectful as his father's father, who'd bullied him nonstop in school just because he'd been a rich only child with some athletic talent and had felt this permitted him to do whatever he pleased.

Albus didn't deserve to be named after someone like Dumbledore. He didn't deserve to be named after Snape. Albus Severus Potter was disrespecting his own namesake by sneaking around and looking for hints of Severus Snape's long-dead friendship with Lily Evans? How dare he!

Then Snape heard a cupboard shut. He looked around and decided the noise had come from beyond the door leading to his private quarters.

He walked in and didn't see anyone in there…but he spotted several cards on his desk that certainly hadn't been there before. He took a closer look and realized these were things he hadn't looked at for years. They were all the birthday, Christmas, and Easter cards Lily had crafted herself and given to Snape during the years they'd been friends. One particular card was open on the desk. Snape picked it up. It was shaped into a carnation and colored all over in colored pencil with varying shades of pink.

It read:

_Dear Severus,_

_Happy tenth birthday! I hope you have a great day today! Well, I'm going to make sure today is the best birthday you've ever had. Petunia even promised to be nice today. Can you believe that?_

_Thank you so much for being my best friend. _

_Love from your best friend,_

_Lily_

Even at nine years old, Lily was kind beyond measure. Trying to push away thoughts of her, Snape stuffed all the cards back into their envelope without looking inside any more of them.

Then he looked around and didn't find anything else out of place, so he just took the letter from Grimmauld Place and the envelope and placed them deep within the cupboard they had come from.

He made to leave the room when he noticed the door was open wider than he'd left it. This combined with the strange noise he'd heard earlier caused him to believe there was someone else in here. Someone hiding under an invisibility cloak who would have reason to want to know more about Lily Evans. Since Albus had left, the only option was James Sirius Potter.

"James Potter! Show yourself!" He wandered into his office, reaching out to see if he could pull the cloak off of James. But the door leading into the corridor was wide open, so maybe he'd left.

So. It wasn't just Albus invading his privacy. It was James as well. And it must all be because of Harry's stories he had told them about the stolen letter from Grimmauld Place. Hadn't Albus mentioned he'd recognized the letter from things he'd heard? And who else would he have heard it from?

Snape had had enough. He picked up a handful of floo powder and knelt down to place his head in the fireplace. "Potter residence!"

Many images swirled around in the fireplace before stopping at the Potters' living room. There was one person there who looked to be dialing a number on his cell phone. While he wasn't a Potter, he still caused Snape to fill with hatred.

Teddy Lupin dropped the phone and jumped upon seeing Snape's head in the fireplace. His hair changed from a cool blue color to fire engine red to neon green, and he gave a nervous grin.

"Professor Snape?" He looked completely bewildered still. "Was there something you needed?"

"Where is your godfather? I need to speak with him."

"I'm the only one here at the moment. Harry and Ginny took Lily out so she can go trick-or-treating with Hugo. And Ginny sent me here to see if the new dishes James ordered for a prank got delivered yet by the delivery truck and told me to inform them it was all a mistake -"

"Well, when is he getting back?"

"Eh, I'm not sure. Pretty late, I think." Teddy paused for a few seconds and looked at Snape curiously. Then he smiled. "Does this have to do with James? What did he get himself into this time? I'll be sure to pass the message on, if you'd like, sir."

"It is none of your concern."

Teddy frowned. "Is it something serious then? Like with what happened last year with the Malfoys?" When he waited and Snape said nothing, Teddy continued. "Well, I know Harry has a pretty busy schedule at work for the next week. It would be best for you to tell me so that I can inform him as soon as I can."

"Just tell him I'd like a word with him concerning things he's been telling his sons about me that would cause them to search my office and invade my privacy."

"Sons? As in plural? James _and _Albus were searching your office?" Teddy looked like a light bulb had gone on in his head. "Of course! It makes sense! Harry told me about how last week when he visited the school, when James and Albus came to visit him in his guest quarters, Harry mentioned something about their paternal grandmother, and Albus kept asking if there was anything she'd left behind and he mentioned the letter from Grimmauld…." Teddy nervously trailed off and Snape pulled his head out of the flames.

"Professor?" A small voice came from behind Snape and he turned around. It was James with the invisibility cloak in his hands. "I - I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone along with Albus's plan to search your office for anything to do with our grandmother. I shouldn't have looked at those cards."

"False apologies won't cut it, Potter. GET OUT!"

James stood there unfazed as though he hadn't just been yelled at. "I will leave, but I just have to say we didn't really understand how upset you'd be. I…I'd be mad, too."

Snape hurtled another ink bottle at the wall as James ran to the doorway leading into the empty corridor. James paused and looked back before running out into the corridor and Snape thought he had seen unshed tears in the thirteen-year-old's eyes.

Snape was ready to pull his hair out while he cleaned up the mess on the wall.

Later on, when it was nearly midnight, Snape was busying himself by grading papers when the floo activated and Harry Potter came out wearing a grave expression.

"James and Albus were looking for my mother's letter to Sirius, weren't they?"

"Yes, and it's all due to your influence."

Harry looked a bit angry. "_My _influence? Teddy told me that you seem to think they did what they did because I told them about the letter. They have every right to know about the past -"

"That was not your information to share!"

"I just let it slip. And that's not such a bad thing, either. They deserve to know about their grandmother. In any case, I wasn't the one who told them to go sneaking around." Harry paused and took deep breaths. "Look, I don't know what to say. But I feel that you should know that the boys don't hate you, even if you hate them. They wouldn't do this to humiliate you. They did this because I haven't been able to provide enough information for them about their grandparents throughout the years. They went looking for information about my mother from the living person who knows her best because they've yearned to know for so many years. They knew they would get yelled at if they confronted you directly about it, so they snuck behind your back."

Harry turned to walk back to the fireplace. He paused before taking his floo powder and said, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry about _what_, Potter?" Snape was irritated by him.

"It's Halloween. The anniversary of their deaths - but I suppose you'd only care about her death. Anyways, don't think I haven't realized it as well. Don't think you're the only one. I lost two people that night. And the children think about it, too."

With those words hanging in the air, Harry left, leaving Snape alone in the office on the anniversary of Lily's death.


	25. Chapter 25

It was September and the first years were being sorted once again. Snape was paying quite a lot of attention this year. This was why he was particularly annoyed when Madam Pomfrey tapped him on the shoulder and drove his focus away from the sorting.

"Poppy, what is it?"

"James and Albus are looking at you very strangely."

Snape glanced over to where the boys were sitting side by side. They kept looking from the crowd of first years (most of whom were eyeing the sorting hat as if it were a ferocious dragon) to Snape, until they realized he was watching them, and then they hastily kept their eyes away from the staff table.

Snape wasn't sure he knew exactly what he was feeling at the moment, but he sure was curious to know what Lily Luna Potter was like, how she would behave around Snape, and if she would cause as much trouble as her brothers.

"Potter, Lily!"

Snape held in his breath and waited for her to emerge from the crowd.

The students all began to stare and whisper as a girl with flaming red hair characteristic of a Weasley emerged. It was so strange to think that a Potter had Weasley hair. Yet it was so fitting that a girl named after Lily Evans should have red hair. She had the same warm brown eyes as her eldest brother, and she had a determined look on her face as she walked directly up to the stool.

McGonagall smiled and dropped the hat on the tiny girl's head.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

James and Albus were cheering the loudest. Lily came up to them and smiled as they patted her on the back. Many shouts of, "Good job, little sis!" and, "Way to go, little cousin!" filled the air. When Hugo Weasley was sorted into Gryffindor, the cheering became even louder as he took a seat between Lily and Rose.

Once the feast had commenced, James and Hugo looked like they were annoying Lily to no end. James kept pinching her face to get a reaction out of her and Hugo kept pulling her hair whenever she wasn't looking. She got up from the table in frustration, and James whispered something into her ear with a grin and pointed at the staff table. She laughed at whatever he was saying and made her way over to Dumbledore.

It was much harder to think of this girl as James Potter's granddaughter or Harry Potter's daughter when she didn't have any of their features. No black hair. No hazel eyes. No _green_ eyes. How peculiar it was that a girl named after Lily didn't have green eyes. Those were Ginny's eyes, which Ginny had inherited from Molly. If Snape hadn't known better, he would have thought Lily was one of the many Weasley cousins. After all, she did have the same hair and eye color combination as Percy's oldest daughter and Ron and Hermione's daughter, making the three of them look like sisters.

"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore."

Dumbledore smiled at Lily. "Hello, Lily. It's been quite a while since Hogwarts has seen a Potter girl, hasn't it, Minerva?"

"Quite right, Albus." Lily looked confused for a few seconds, probably because she wasn't used to someone besides her brother being referred to as Albus.

Dumbledore turned his attention back to Lily. "Was there something you wanted, dear?"

Lily said amusedly, "I've heard it's sort of becoming the Potter tradition to have tea with you and Professor Snape in your office on the first day of classes. Except no one ever actually ends up drinking tea."

"Ah, it seems so, Lily, it seems so! Severus, you and I shall continue, as our dear Lily here puts it, the Potter tradition." Dumbledore winked at her and his eyes twinkled as he apparently noticed she looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh at Snape's annoyed expression.

"Professor Snape, that's alright with you?" she asked cheekily.

This was the same way Lily Evans had often spoken to Slughorn in class, but given that the girl barely resembled her, Snape was caught by surprise by the fact that she was behaving like her.

"Oh, don't worry about him, Lily, since I _insist_ that he come tomorrow after classes to chat with us." Dumbledore directed his twinkling, amused gaze to Snape.

Snape nodded, to which Dumbledore said, "Excellent!"

"Really? Well, then, I'm looking forward to it. I've heard you're the two greatest headmasters Hogwarts ever had." An excited look came over her.

There was no doubt in Snape's mind as to who she'd heard that from.

Then snowflakes began to fall from the Great Hall ceiling. The students all looked around curiously and Lily blushed.

"Oh, I think I'm doing that. For my accidental magic, snow starts falling from the ceiling a lot of the time," said Lily. "Well, it was good meeting you two."

Dumbledore said bye to her and she went right up to Fred.

"Well? What are you waiting for? This is our last chance at an accidental magic snowball fight, Fred!"

They exchanged mischievous smirks and moved near the windows. Then they both picked up the small amount of freshly fallen snow and began throwing small snowballs at each other.

Flitwick squeaked in delight about how cute this was, until McGonagall told him to assert his authority and tell them to stop. He got up to do so, but the snow suddenly disappeared. The snowball Lily had directed at Fred ended up vanishing in midair, causing him to stick his tongue out at her.

Scorpius over at the Slytherin table glared disapprovingly at Lily and Fred and cleared his throat. "Potters and Weasleys have no dignity, do they?"

Fred opened his mouth to retort, but Lily put her hand on his arm to make him stop. She and Fred made their ways back to their table, but when Scorpius and Fred weren't looking, she chanced an anxious glance back at Scorpius.

This all reminded Snape of something that had happened in his first year.

_It was after Lily and Snape's first dinner at the castle. They spotted James, Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew a little ways ahead of them, walking out of the Great Hall, chatting rowdily. _

_Suddenly, snow began falling from the corridor ceiling. _

"_Does it always snow in the corridors, Sev?" Lily asked him._

"_No. It's a first year letting off their last bit of accidental magic, I guess," Snape replied._

_An excited shout could be heard from further down the hall. "Sirius, Remus, Peter! Check this out!" James stared at the ceiling in wonder. "This is usually what happens when I'm excited, I let off snow as my accidental magic…What are you all waiting for? Let's have a snowball fight before this all goes away!"_

_The four boys engaged in an indoor snowball fight, while Lily beside him looked in wonder at the scene before her._

_James turned around sneakily and threw a snowball at Snape's head. Lily gave a mean stare in James's direction and helped Snape brush the snow out of his hair._

_McGonagall had seen the whole thing and began to lightly lecture the four boys about engaging in this snowball fight, even though it was only their first night in the castle. _

_James stopped paying attention and looked around anxiously. When he caught Lily's eye, he relaxed and grinned at her in a smug way, and she looked for a second as though she wanted to smile back, but then she pointedly looked away._

Lily was a lot like her grandfather, James Potter, after all. They had both engaged in lighthearted mischief on their first night at Hogwarts, and both had the same type of accidental magic. Snape could only hope she wasn't a bully as well. Only time would tell.


	26. Chapter 26

Snape took his seat beside Lily in Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore sat in his usual chair behind his desk and looked very pleased at the sight of the two of them in the same room.

"Lily, are you excited for your father to arrive today?" Dumbledore asked pleasantly.

Lily's brown eyes lit up instantly at Dumbledore's words. "Yes, I'm excited! But have you noticed that he only arrives in the first week of school whenever one of his kids starts their first year? I think my mum is the one pushing him to do it to check up on us and make sure we're not crying our eyes out every night over leaving home. It's a bit annoying, but I guess I don't mind that much."

Dumbledore seemed amused by this. "Really, Lily? I think they are both just a bit concerned, that's all."

"I would say the staff appreciates his pending arrival, but that is no longer the case, since your father has proven that he fails to instill the appropriate amount of fear in your oldest brother. That boy keeps carrying on with his schemes no matter who is in the castle," said Snape with a sneer.

"Tell me about it! I've seen all those letters that got sent home every five seconds last year about James's behavior. Maybe - Sir, maybe I can help you put a stop to his behavior!" She smiled brightly at Snape, who was taken aback by this suggestion.

He highly doubted that Lily Luna, who had both Weasley and marauder genes within her, was doing anything other than mocking him by saying such a thing. But when he looked at the expression on her face, he felt a stir of recognition. It was the same kind expression that Lily Evans often wore whenever she wanted to help someone.

"And? How exactly do you plan on helping, Ms. Potter?"

"I don't know." When Snape raised his eyebrows at her and Dumbledore looked curious, she laughed and added, "What I mean is, I'll make up my strategies as I go along. I don't have a specific idea in mind…_yet_." Her eyes glittered mischievously.

Then the floo activated and Harry stepped out, brushing off his robes.

"Hello, Harry!" Dumbledore said ecstatically. "It's very nice to see you again, my boy!"

"It's nice to see you again, too…" Harry suddenly seemed to realize the other two occupants in the room and looked curiously at Lily and Snape. "So, this is what the Potter tea sessions are like." He grinned, but his eyes kept darting from Lily to Snape as though he found it hard to group the two of them together in his mind.

Harry nodded as a greeting to Snape, who nodded back, and Lily jumped out of her seat and ran into Harry's open arms with such a great deal of force that Snape thought it looked painful. Harry had to catch his balance after nearly falling into the side of Dumbledore's desk. Snape could see Dumbledore's eyes twinkle at this.

"Lily, did you miss me? You doing alright? James didn't put gum in your hair again, did he?" At Harry's words, Lily, who was positioned in a way that prevented Harry from seeing her expression, rolled her eyes briefly and shot a look to both Snape and Dumbledore that clearly read, "See what I was talking about?"

"Daddy. I saw you yesterday at King's Cross. I have a whole family and friends here at school to keep me company, and some of the staff are family friends. I'm just _fine_," she said firmly after looking him straight in the face.

Harry blinked and sense seemed to wash over him, and he said, "You're right. It's your grandmother who's been worrying nonstop about you and Hugo, so some of that has kinda rubbed off on me. You're the youngest in the family, but we've all got to remember you've also got a good head on your shoulders."

She gave a smug smirk. "Now that's what I like to hear. Oh, and guess what? Me and Professor Snape are going to try and stop James from bringing the school down with pranks! But you've got to promise not to tell James."

Harry looked at Snape in surprise. "You and Lily are teaming up? You and a Potter actually have a common goal?" Harry grinned wholeheartedly. "That's -"

"Enough to make Grandpa James roll in his grave? I agree," said Lily, and Harry and Dumbledore laughed, while Snape smirked.

Then a knock came from the door amidst the laughing. "Come in," Dumbledore responded merrily.

It was James, who looked very pleased indeed. "Hold your horses there, everyone. I've been eavesdropping for a while and heard about this deal Lily has made with Professor Snape. _And _now that I know what's going on, I'm afraid Lily's little plan is down the drain. Now I can continue with being the most spectacular pranking marauder the world has ever seen -"

" Oh brother -" Harry muttered.

"And no one will be able to bring me down!" He made to close the door on his way out, but he suddenly opened the door to briefly say, "Oh, hi, Dad," before actually leaving.

"Lily, don't retaliate, he just wants to get a reaction out of…you…" Harry finished lamely as Lily ran out the door shouting, "James! You don't want to _know _what I'm going to do to you for eavesdropping on my tea session!"


	27. Chapter 27

Snape and Harry exited the office.

The scene before them was rather interesting. Albus was trying to control Lily as she threatened to perform the bat-bogey hex on James. She pressed her wand threateningly onto James's neck while he tried to hastily tell her to lighten up and that he had only been joking.

Albus was the only one who seemed to realize Harry was sneaking up on them very slowly and carefully, and Albus's eyes shone with a fun-loving glow as he observed this out of the corner of his eye.

Harry was observing the confrontation with a raised eyebrow as he came nearer and nearer. When Harry had gotten fairly close to them, he made his move. "Lily!" Harry said warningly.

She and James jumped and then collapsed in surprise on the floor, James grabbing Albus by the collar and taking him down with him as Albus laughed.

James was in full defensive mode as he shouted, "I swear it wasn't me this time -"

"James, calm down. I know you didn't actually do anything wrong this time," Harry said.

Lily stilled a bit and stared at her wand fixedly. "I'm sorry, Daddy. James made me mad again," she said in the sweetest voice imaginable. She gave an equally sweet smile.

"Lily, I -" Harry looked as though he really wanted to be stricter with her, but his heart also seemed to be melting at the same time. In the end, he composed himself and said, "Well, next time, talk it through with him. Don't -" a smile tugged at his lips - "don't threaten him with the bat-bogey hex."

"And Al? Thanks for trying to keep them both from fighting like wild animals -" But Albus wasn't listening to Harry's praise. He stared instead at the redheaded third year Slytherin girl walking around the corner.

Harry noticed this with surprise and a slight smirk. He whispered to Snape, "Who's that girl walking over there?"

"Daisy Nott."

Albus ran up to Daisy and began smoothly conversing with her.

"Nott? Surely not the daughter of Theodore Nott?" Harry asked.

Albus subconsciously began to ruffle his hair while speaking to Daisy before seeming to realize what he was doing, which caused him to attempt to smooth it out promptly (but this did nothing to improve his hopelessly messy hair).

"She is, in fact, Theodore Nott's daughter," Snape replied.

Harry's face paled. "My son is smitten with _Nott's _-"

"Potter, let me assure you that I take no pleasure in discussing your _wayward_ teenage son's latest interests with you. Now, if you will excuse me, I shall be going."

Snape stopped in his tracks, for both Lily and James were blocking his way. They had been listening in on his conversation with Harry and looked to be on the verge of laughter.

"Will you two cease causing trouble for once and move out of the way?"

"Of course, Professor," James said, and he and Lily moved out of the way.

But Snape had barely taken three steps when he nearly bumped into Lorcan, Lysander, and Lucy, who were passing by. The three of them stayed in the same spot they were in, and James and Lily ran up to them to whisper about and point at Albus and Daisy, causing an even larger crowd to build up in Snape's path.

Lysander took one look at Daisy and Albus and said in a carrying whisper, "But that girl is trouble! She's a Nott, and nothing good ever comes from hanging around a Nott."

James, for once, actually looked concerned about his younger brother's well-being. "Do you think he'd listen to me if I tried to talk him out of it?"

No one answered James, for Lorcan was causing a stir. He walked up to Daisy and stole her away from Albus, and Albus looked uncharacteristically jealous, but just by the slightest amount, as Lorcan began chatting up Daisy.

"Uh-oh. Albus has the green eye going on there. _Literally_," James said. "What exactly is Lorcan doing, by the way? I mean, I know he's something of a player, but I never thought he'd go for a Slytherin. Can you believe this, Lucy? Uh…Lucy? Are you alright?"

Lucy was glaring at Daisy so hard that she could have been trying to burn her with that jealous glare alone. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright," but Snape personally thought this wasn't the truth. "I'm just annoyed that Lorcan is…making a fool of himself. That's all."

James, Lily, and Lysander all shared a knowing look before James said sarcastically, "Of _course_, Lucy. It's not because you have a special place in your heart for Lorcan or anything. A _really _special place for your lifelong childhood friend who you secretly think of as more than your friend, and I, your favorite cousin, would know this because I eavesdropped on you mentioning such a scandalous thing to my dear sister at my fourteenth birthday party -" and Lucy looked both embarrassed and angry at the same time.

"Kids?" Harry walked up to them. "Keep an eye on Albus and Lorcan. Make sure they don't end up killing each other over this girl. As a matter of fact, I need you guys to keep them _away _from her, if you can. Oh, and move so that Professor Snape and I can get through, please," he added as an afterthought.

"Severus?" Harry asked as they made their way through. "Can you make sure that Albus doesn't -"

"Potter, it isn't _my _job to-"

"But I don't think Molly or Arthur would ever forgive me if the name Nott got mixed into our family tree -"

"Listen to yourself, Potter. I never thought the day would come when you'd be bothering me, of all people, about what you're worried your mother- and father-in-law will think about your potential future daughter-in-law."

"Severus, don't I have to teach the Gryffindor and Slytherin third years tomorrow?" Harry continued as though he hadn't heard Snape.

"Yes," Snape replied with narrowed eyes.

A smile slowly formed on Harry's face. "Brilliant. Then maybe I can stop all this chaos in its tracks."


	28. Chapter 28

"Horace would like me to pass on a message to you," said Harry to Snape the following morning while sorting through lesson plans at his desk in the defense against the dark arts classroom.

"What message?" Snape was very suspicious now. Every time Horace Slughorn had a message to pass on to him, it was for Snape to do something for him that would make him want to tear his hair out.

And this wasn't a particularly good time for Snape to be getting frustrated over something else. He had been tipped off this morning that some students had snuck into the classroom the previous night and created a mess of ten layers of pastries on the ceiling. But that wasn't all. Upon arriving, he realized they'd used a very complicated series of spells to make it difficult for him to undo all the spell work keeping the rubbish attached to the ceiling.

"He'd like you to take over his second potions class of the day, which consists of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff first years." Harry looked at Snape curiously as he added this, obviously trying to gauge his reaction.

"What exactly is so important that he must miss a class so early on in the year? Especially one consisting of the children of his favorite students?"

"He said something about organizing an epic start-of-term party."

Snape refrained from criticizing Slughorn because the Gryffindor and Slytherin third years began filing in at this point, and Harry got up to do the role call. He smiled kindly at all the students in a way that reminded Snape so much of that dreaded Remus John Lupin.

Harry went down the list for the first class of the day, giving halfway forced smiles at Scorpius Malfoy and Daisy Nott when he called their names.

The students looked at Snape curiously as he threw spell after spell at a chocolate donut resting on the outermost layer of the mess on the ceiling, muttering a complicated series of incantations and trying to get the right combination down.

"Albus Potter?"

"Here."

There were a few more names, and then, "Rose Weasley?"

No answer.

Snape looked up from his work (he still hadn't managed to get the right order of incantations down yet to remove the donut) and saw no sign of that characteristic Weasley hair. How odd for a perfectionist like Rose Weasley to simply not show up to class. It was also highly unusual to see Albus without Rose next to him in class. Instead, he was sitting with some friends.

"Has anyone seen Rose today?" Harry asked, looking directly at Albus.

"She went to Madam Pomfrey," said Albus. "Said she felt like she was coming down with a fever all of a sudden."

Harry looked truly sorry for Rose, but he didn't ask anything more about her, most likely out of fear of showing any favoritism towards a student while teaching a class.

Harry demonstrated the proper way to perform the seize and pull charm, and the whole while, Albus looked at Harry intently, as though he wanted to tell him something. When Harry had finally told the class to pair up and practice the charm on their quills, Albus went straight up to Harry's desk.

"Dad, I don't know what's wrong with Rose, but I think it has to do with…" Albus looked around to make sure no students were listening and continued quietly, "_dark _magic. We were talking in the corridor and all of a sudden she said her head hurt really badly, but there was nothing wrong before. And she started feeling dizzy and her forehead was really warm. It was just so _sudden_."

"Was there anyone else in the corridor, Al? Was someone behind her who could have been casting a spell?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. I was just really focused on her."

"Hmm. Well, I'll ask Madam Pomfrey about it during lunch, okay? Don't worry."

As soon as Harry had completed his sentence, a loud fit of coughing came from the corner of the room.

Scorpius Malfoy was now on the floor, still coughing uncontrollably into the elbow of his sleeve. Daisy, his partner, looked concerned but unsure about how to handle the situation.

Harry, Snape, and Albus approached Scorpius to try and help, but the Slytherin students were much quicker.

"Someone get him to the hospital wing!" Harry exclaimed.

In the end, it took two Slytherin boys to get Scorpius off the floor and out the classroom door.

Harry told the class to continue working, and then he and Albus shared a look. "Al, can you think of anyone in this class who has it in for both Rose and Scorpius?"

Albus shook his head hopelessly. "No. It's either you hate a Gryffindor or you hate a Slytherin. No one hates a Gryffindor _and_ a Slytherin."

"Then perhaps it was something they drank this morning? Maybe it wasn't someone casting a spell. The evidence suggests it was someone spiking their pumpkin juice. " Snape added before going back to attacking the chocolate donut. This time it worked and the donut fell from the ceiling.

Albus grabbed the calorie-loaded snack absentmindedly as it fell through the air, broke off a piece, and took a nervous bite before saying, "But that means it's like someone poisoned them. What if -"

"You know what I think, Potter? You should keep out of the matter, leave this to the adults, and go do your schoolwork like the rest of your classmates. You, unfortunate though it may be, are not blessed with the privilege of being able to stand around doing nothing but eat treats that fall from the ceiling at your convenience because your father is the instructor this week. Your blessed father may not be capable of ordering you to perform your spell work like everyone else, but let me assure you that I am capable of doing such a thing."

When Snape was finished with his rant, Albus seemed to come to his senses, while Harry looked to be slowly filling up with anger.

"There was no need for you to speak to my son in that manner -" Harry began before Albus cut him off.

"Dad, it's okay -"

"No, Al, it is absolutely not okay -"

"Excuse me?" The argument ceased and everyone turned to look at who had spoken. It was Daisy Nott. "Since Scorpius is in the hospital wing, I don't have anyone to practice with."

Daisy and Albus suddenly made eye contact and Albus looked as though Christmas had come early.

"You can practice with me!" Albus said quickly. He leaned against the desk as though attempting to look casual.

Harry gave yet another forced smile to Daisy. "Yes, that would be…a good idea."

Albus handed a bewildered Harry the rest of the donut without even seeming to realize what he was doing, and then he reached out to hold Daisy's hand. Together, the two of them walked to a corner of the room and could be seen giggling together while doing their spell work.

After Harry had caught himself openly staring at the scene playing out before him, he set aside the donut and sifted through his mountain of paperwork while Snape worked on detaching a cheesecake that several students were eyeing longingly, but Snape could see that Harry was watching Albus and Daisy out of the corner of his eye.

Then there came a point when Daisy came up to Albus and whispered something in his ear, causing them both to smile mischievously.

Harry looked very uncomfortable at this. "What in the world is going on over there?" he pondered quietly.

Then Daisy performed the seize and pull charm, but instead of using it on a quill, she used the charm to pull Albus into her arms and they looked into each other's eyes mischievously again.

Harry slammed the paper he'd been working on onto a stack and got up. He'd apparently had enough.

Harry walked over to the two kids, who jumped apart immediately as soon as they saw him approaching.

"Guys, I told you to use this spell on a _quill_. Not a person. Don't let me catch you doing otherwise again."

Then the bell rang, and Snape headed to the dungeons to take over for Slughorn, leaving behind a disgruntled Harry.


	29. Chapter 29

The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff first years looked highly disappointed when they saw Snape enter the potions classroom.

After he took attendance and began teaching, he noticed Hugo and Lily were sitting next to each other in the second row. Hugo tapped Lily on the shoulder and whispered something worriedly to her while Snape was discussing the forgetfulness potion, but Lily seemed to only be half listening and trying to focus on the lesson.

"Weasley!"

Hugo's blue eyes widened and he timidly responded, "Yes, sir?"

"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hugo stared at the floor embarrassedly while the entire class stared.

"You don't know? Well, then. Apparently you aren't so knowledgeable that you have the luxury of simply not paying attention to -"

"The Draught of Living Death." Lily had interrupted him in a quiet yet strong voice.

"Excuse me?" Snape's fierce gaze landed on Lily. "You dare to interrupt me while I'm speaking, Miss Potter?" Snape's voice came out in a deadly whisper as Lily pierced him with a fiery gaze of her own.

"I said the answer to your question was the Draught of Living Death, which is in the back of the textbook and has nothing to do with the forgetfulness potion. So, he shouldn't be expected to know what it is now, should he? You're just trying to humiliate him."

The students all looked to Snape in fearful anticipation of how he would react to Lily's questioning of him.

"Ten points from Gryffindor. I will not be spoken to in such a way…not even by the daughter of the _Chosen One_."

Hugo looked at Lily concernedly, but she gave him a reassuring smile, which he returned.

Seething with rage, Snape told them to start working, and then no one said a word for several minutes.

Snape got up to inspect the potions near the end of class, and he noticed Lily was whispering into Hugo's ear and using hand motions to show him how to complete his potion.

"Potter!" Lily looked at Snape, surprised at being caught. "I do not want you whispering instructions into your cousin's ear. Concentrate on your own assignment."

"I'm finished and he needed help with adding the finishing touches. I thought that, as a teacher, you'd want to see him, you know, _not _fail?"

"I'm warning you, Potter. One more outburst and I will throw you out of this classroom," Snape said through gritted teeth. His expression formed into a sneer. "In the meantime, another ten points from Gryffindor should do it."

Snape got closer to Hugo and Lily and checked their potions. The only thing wrong with Hugo's was that it was a very dark brown. Lily's, on the other hand, was black, just the way it was supposed to be.

"It seems you didn't help Weasley enough," Snape said so quietly that no one but Lily and Hugo were able to hear. "You wanted to make sure yours was better than his, didn't you? Of course. Your arrogance shines through very clearly." At this last sentence, both Hugo and Lily looked at Snape angrily, and Snape expected Lily to snap, but she heeded his warning from before.

The bell rang and Snape collected each potion before heading to the hospital wing with some antidotes, thinking that Madam Pomfrey would be needing them after what had happened to Rose and Scorpius.

When he reached the hospital wing, he found the Scamanders and the majority of the Weasley children waiting outside.

Inside, Harry and Madam Pomfrey were deep in discussion. Scorpius and Rose were in two beds next to each other. Scorpius was fast asleep, while Rose had an ice pack on her forehead and was burning up. Albus, James, Lily, Roxanne, and Hugo were gathered around Rose's bed, speculating about whatever had happened to her and Scorpius. The children reassured her every once in a while that she was going to be okay, but she didn't look strong enough to respond to them. Every once in a while, Lily looked sorrowfully over at Scorpius's bed.

"Severus!" Madam Pomfrey had noticed him and frantically grabbed the vials out of his hands. "Thank you so much for the antidotes. I have no idea if I will be needing these particular types, but it's always good to keep a variety in handy." She looked at the two occupied beds. "I had to knock Mr. Malfoy out with a mild dreamless sleep potion because it would be better for him to not have to deal with that unbearable coughing while I figure out what's wrong with him. And Miss Weasley's temperature is at 104 degrees."

Harry asked, "But you will be able to find a solution, won't you?" He looked at Snape and Madam Pomfrey desperately.

Snape thought long and hard, thinking back to the days when he'd immersed himself in dark magic and sighed. "It seems these two are suffering from a new type of dark magic, which means we need to find out immediately who caused this so that we can figure out how to stop it."

Suddenly, Lily jumped up and said, "I have an idea." She ignored everyone's questioning and left through the hospital wing doors.


	30. Chapter 30

When Lily came back in, she was accompanied by a timid-looking Daisy Nott, who immediately rushed over to Scorpius's bedside and stared at him with worry.

"Ahem," James cleared his throat loudly while shooting an angry look at Daisy and an annoyed look at Lily. "Well? Can someone please explain what's going on here?"

Lily looked at everyone and began, "The night I arrived at Hogwarts, Daisy came up to me and began interrogating me after the feast about Albus. She was asking if there was anyone he was interested in and I told her I didn't know. Then, we kind of got into an argument." Lily stopped there, looking guilty.

"Well?" Roxanne prodded. "What were you guys arguing about? This better have something to do with what's going on with Rose -"

"It does. Hold on," Lily continued. "I told her how I'd heard about her reputation and wanted her to stay away from my brother. I asked her why she couldn't go for someone like Scorpius Malfoy-"

"Since he has the same sort of reputation as her, right?" James added in.

"Yeah, I said that, but then she said she can't becauseof the fact that they're just childhood friends and that she'd only turn to Scorpius if the thing with Albus didn't work out because she was starting to consider Scorpius-"

"It isn't true," Daisy mumbled, but the only people who reacted to this were James and Roxanne, who rolled their eyes at her and then looked to Lily to continue her story.

"And I decided that I needed to find a way to make her jealous and go after Scorpius instead of Albus, so I came up with a lie off the top of my head and said Rose and Scorpius were writing secret love letters to each other over the summer." Lily looked at Daisy and said, "And I think she's trying to get revenge on Rose, but I don't understand why she'd do this to Scorpius if she cares about him so much."

"So, you did this to them?" Albus asked quietly, looking at Daisy in shock. "Were you just using me to make him jealous -"

"No!" Tears began streaming down Daisy's face. "I promise I wasn't u - using you!"

"You better explain what happened then!" James yelled.

"Wait a second." Everyone turned to Harry as he said this. "Daisy? One of the rumors at the ministry is that the Nott and Malfoy families have been trying to decide on suitable spouses for you and Scorpius ahead of time for the traditional pureblood marriages that are to take place after you two graduate. Does the reason you're so angry about the possibility of Scorpius being with Rose have anything to do with…Have your families come to an agreement about who your future spouses will be? Have they decided on you and Scorpius being married to each other and you're worried about him wanting someone else when he's already engaged to you?"

Daisy looked like she'd just been hit by a stunning spell as she stared at Harry. She even stopped crying. It seemed to Snape as though Harry had hit the nail on the head and Daisy was unable to comprehend this. "Y - yes," she said quietly. "Since I thought what Lily was saying about Rose and Scorpius was true, I thought our dads would be mad at him if they ever found out -"

Everything clicked in Snape's mind as Madam Pomfrey gasped in surprise and the children began yelling in outrage all at the same time.

"But you're doing the same thing that you thought Malfoy was doing!" Hugo exclaimed. "You're with Albus and you're engaged to Scorpius! Aren't you worried about what your family and the Malfoy family will do when they find out -"

"I -" Daisy said before being interrupted by Harry.

"Daisy, you said Draco and Theodore would have been angry at Scorpius. What about your mothers? You didn't say anything about them."

Snape could see Daisy was very scared and under a lot of pressure when being questioned by Harry Potter and his family. That could be the only explanation for why she was spilling so much information to them. "My mother - uh - well - ever since the war, she doesn't trust the Malfoys. She thinks they're traitors because she doesn't think they fully supported the dark lord. And Scorpius's mother gossips about my mother with the other pureblood families because my mum gossips about her with the other pureblood families, too."

"So, your mothers don't agree with this engagement?" Harry asked.

"No."

"Okay, what does this have to do with anything?" James asked heatedly.

"Because after your sister told me that lie about Scorpius and your cousin, I didn't know what to do and thought maybe I could risk Scorpius getting in trouble because I had to let my parents know what he was doing…well, what I _thought _he was doing. My dad wrote to say that the engagement had to go on but that I couldn't let Rose interfere with it. He said to hex her for revenge. And then my mum wrote a separate letter saying that she knew Scorpius couldn't be trusted all along because he's a Malfoy, so she said to hex him for revenge, too, because he couldn't get away with this. I didn't want to, but I had to."

"You listened to them?" Roxanne asked furiously. "Why couldn't you just call off the marriage?"

"Roxanne, Slytherin families don't think in the same way that ours does. They wouldn't call off a marriage for anything because they'd be ashamed of telling people they had to call it off. And if pureblood parents tell you to do something in regards to dealing with problems with an engagement, that's not something you can ignore without being disowned," said Harry bitterly. "And they're more into revenge than reasoning with people."

"Yeah, and they're sneaky, so they wouldn't want to confront you directly about what you did," James said wisely.

"And Nott here is just as sneaky as the rest of them because she's with Albus when she isn't supposed to be and she's just getting his hopes up -" Lily said, but Daisy loudly cut her off.

"Potter, I don't think you should be saying - a - single - _word_! You know why? Because your little lie is what started this whole mess for me -"

"No, your reputation is what started this! Everyone says you're always going around causing trouble, and that's why I didn't want you with Albus -"

"But I care about your brother! I just can't let our parents find out about it -"

Harry cut in with, "Lily, can't you see that Daisy is under a lot of pressure from her family? She's only two years older than you, yet she needs to battle with herself about what's expected of her and what she personally wants." He turned to Daisy and said, "If you don't mind, I'll be needing to have a little discussion with your parents and Scorpius's parents."

Snape looked at Harry strangely and whispered incredulously, "_You're _going to deal with the Malfoys and Notts? Why? You are not capable of reasoning with them-"

"Yes, I am. I can reason with Draco Malfoy because we aren't quite enemies anymore, and I've dealt with Theodore Nott back in school."

"Mr. Potter?" Daisy asked timidly.

"Yes?" Harry answered.

"Don't be surprised when you speak with them if they say something that's, well, surprising. Astoria Malfoy and my mum have been meaning to talk with you about something. It has to do with Albus and Rose."

"What about them?" Harry asked cautiously.

"I'm not sure, but it doesn't seem like you're going to like it, from what I've heard."

On that note, Harry left through the hospital wing doors to contact the Malfoys and Notts, and Snape was not looking forward to whatever trouble was coming.


	31. Chapter 31

There was complete silence in the hospital wing as the children scowled at a nervous Daisy, who wandered over to Madam Pomfrey and mumbled to her about how to cure Rose and Scorpius.

The doors opened again and the rest of the Weasleys and Scamanders poured in, as well as some Slytherin boys who Snape recognized to be friends of Scorpius.

"Where's Uncle Harry off to?" Fred asked.

Roxanne, the Potter boys, and even reserved little Hugo gave Lily evil smiles.

"You know what, Fred? Your pal, Lily, can tell you everything…since it's kind of her fault. I think she's learned a lot about how to come up with creative lies from hanging around you and me," said James.

Scorpius's friends looked at the scene with interest as they made their ways over to Scorpius's bedside.

Madam Pomfrey emerged from the antidote cabinet with a crazed look on her face as she screamed, "No more than six visitors!" and began to push the majority of the students out. The students in question were putting up a fuss about this as Snape left the hospital wing quickly.

He set off down the corridor to find Harry and see that he didn't get himself killed at the hands of four pureblood parents. Why in the name of Merlin did Harry Potter somehow think it was always his bloody job to settle every dispute in the castle? Didn't he understand that messing around with ancient pureblood customs was only going to get him several knocked-out teeth and a blow to the head?

After a while, he saw Harry standing on the stone steps at the entrance of the castle. Snape lurked behind a window and observed as Harry shook the hands of four people.

It seemed Draco, Astoria, Theodore, and Theodore's wife were very impatient.

"What is it you need, Potter? Dumbledore said you had urgent matters to discuss regarding our children, and I'm afraid we already have a lot to deal with at the moment, so make it quick," Theodore said harshly.

Harry wore a steely look as he spoke to Theodore. "Your daughter confessed to hexing Scorpius Malfoy and my niece, and there's no point in pretending because she said herself that you forced her to do so."

Mrs. Nott wore a skeptical look. "Confessed? You mean you threatened the truth out of the poor child, as she would never willingly do so. Potter, you think you're so high and mighty nowadays, don't you?"

Draco and Astoria were now looking at the Notts in outrage, while Theodore looked shocked at being found out. His wife hadn't been clever enough to deny Harry's claim, and now he had to deal with the wrath of a former death eater and his wife.

"Mrs. Nott, I would never threaten a thirteen-year-old girl. I think she was merely frightened because several students suspected her -"

Mrs. Nott remained oblivious to the Malfoys and continued running her mouth off. "_And_?" she hissed. "What do you want from us? The hexes will wear off in three weeks -"

"Because I take all the blame."

This caused all four visitors to look as confused as concussed trolls.

"It was my eleven-year-old daughter who started the rumor, you see."

Snape had never known before now that it was possible for four people to look so bewildered.

"She lied to Daisy that Scorpius and my niece had something going on, which I can assure you is definitely not true."

Judging by the stunned looks on Draco and Astoria's faces, it was news to them that there had even been such a rumor in the first place.

Astoria spoke up. "Maria?" she said, turning to Mrs. Nott. "You failed to inform me when you thought my son was with one of those - those - _Weasleys_? I would have come here myself and wrung his neck!" Something about the way Astoria was saying this seemed fake, as though she was pretending to be angry.

Draco looked furious, but he patted Astoria's arm gently to make her calm down.

"Anyways," Harry continued smoothly, "count yourselves lucky that I won't be escorting you two to Azkaban tonight, since Madam Pomfrey says the hexes used are not considered severe enough to warrant charges. I never want to hear about you dragging my family into your problems ever again. That's what I really wanted to say."

Snape let out a deep breath. Harry wasn't questioning the pureblood practices, just stating that he didn't want anything to do with it.

"Excuse Theodore and I for just a second," Draco said, his very pale face turning red, "while we discuss a few things."

Draco walked rapidly away to the middle of the lawn and picked a spot on the grass on which to stand and wait for Theodore. Theodore followed him but kept his distance before starting a loud argument.

Now only Astoria Malfoy and Maria Nott were left with Harry. After Harry and Astoria's…confrontation…two years previously, Harry looked to be avoiding Astoria's eye contact. Maria and Astoria were giving each other forced smiles of politeness.

"I hear that there's something you both wanted to discuss with me? Supposedly about my son and niece?" Harry asked carefully.

"Yes!" Maria said. "But how to put it, Astoria?"

"Harry," Harry flinched and looked ready to run a million miles in the opposite direction as soon as Astoria said his name, "I'm sure you must be aware of the custom of purebloods marrying into only other pureblood families. While my father-in-law may deny it, the Malfoy name does carry a certain disgrace these days. People look down on us. Any family Scorpius chooses to marry into will have to share this newfound shame. And the Notts are really the only pureblood family remaining that -" she pursed her lips in disdain at Maria - "has a suitable amount of respect for us, as well as a daughter around my son's age."

"What are you saying?" Harry asked. Snape was also quite curious about why she was telling him this.

"I, on the other hand, do not want to be brought down by having Daisy marry into the Malfoy family, and we both feel the children should remain nothing more than friends. And Astoria doesn't want to inflict shame on another pureblood family. Well, she doesn't want to inflict _more_ shame…the Notts are occasionally laughed at for associating with the Malfoys, so no one wants Daisy," said Maria.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm confused as to how I come into this?" Harry asked.

"The next option would be for Scorpius to marry within the family, but Daisy is not related to anyone suitable, so she has the option of marrying outside the family." Astoria gave Harry a significant look, seeming to assume he knew what she was talking about, but to Snape, Harry looked like he still had no clue what the two were on about.

"We decided to pick the future spouses that, while despised for being blood traitors, are admired by the wizarding world because of what their parents have done," Maria said, "so therefore we would require Daisy and Scorpius to become associated with the names Potter or Weasley. The Malfoy family is related distantly to both."

Harry opened his mouth and then closed it. He then proceeded to stare at Maria and then Astoria as though they were both escaped convicts out to get him.

"This way, Scorpius can still be respected by the pureblood community by marrying within the family instead of tainting another traditional pureblood family. And since several purebloods do have a fearful sort of admiration for the Potters and Weasleys due to the outcome of the war, we can bring the Malfoy and Nott names a sort of respect," Astoria said contentedly.

"I hear that one of your sons is the same age as Daisy," said Maria.

"And I hear that one of the Weasley girls is in the same year as Scorpius," Astoria said.

"Our husbands would not approve at first, but once they find out Harry Potter is willing to go along with this, they will be forced to accept it -" but Harry cut Maria off.

"Stop. Just _stop_." Harry had found his ability to speak at last. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!"

Snape hadn't heard him shout like this since Teddy Lupin was a first year and Harry had demeaned Snape for supposedly mistreating him beyond reason.

Draco and Theodore turned around, and Maria and Astoria were trying to tell Harry to be quiet so that Draco and Theodore wouldn't find out about the secret plan, but Harry wasn't having any of it.

"NO! These kids are THIRTEEN! How dare you? Trying to decide their lives for them - when they're barely teenagers - trying to use family names to get yourselves higher on the social ladder - probably want to drain the Weasley and Potter Gringotts vaults while you're at it, too -"

"Please, the Weasley girl is Scorpius's only hope -"

"Tell me one thing, Astoria. Do you even know the _name _of this 'Weasley girl' you want to be your daughter-in-law so badly?"

Astoria froze. "It's…" She looked at the ground and then back up at Harry's face.

"Rose! It's _Rose_! But no, you aren't interested in that. You're not interested in the kids, or the fact that Scorpius and Rose hate each other, just what all of you can gain from this. No wonder you're keeping this from your husbands! The whole lot of you are out - of - your - _minds_. Rose and Albus are both good kids who grew up understanding they have the freedom to decide what they want for themselves. When my wife, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law hear about this, I don't doubt they will attempt to tear you apart. Good day to you all."

Harry walked into the entrance hall without a further glance outside.


	32. Chapter 32

It was December of the next year, and Snape could see Dumbledore coming into the entrance hall with a now second year Lily Potter by his side, chatting happily with her about something or other.

"So _that's _why you don't like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!" Lily said in wonder.

Dumbledore chuckled at her and then spoke to Snape with a twinkle still lingering in his eye. "Severus? I'd like you to pass a message on to our young James Potter, who is currently in Horace's office, if that is convenient for you. Lily here tells me that he went there a few minutes early to help set up the party that is to start soon."

Snape gave a curt nod, and even though he didn't appreciate having to deal with his school rival's look-alike any time soon, he said, "As you wish, Albus."

"Excellent! Just tell him to come to my office soon."

Snape made his way to the office, passing several students who had been invited to the party that seemed to have just started.

When he opened the door, he was greeted by Slughorn immediately.

"Severus, m'boy!" he exclaimed, his voice slightly muffled by the loud music and chatter of several students. "Very nice to see you here for once! I'm predicting this party will be my most successful one of the year thus far -"

"I'm actually here to pass on a message to James Potter -"

"Ah, James! Splendid young man! I saw him just a few minutes ago. Now where is he…He's just over there, Severus!" Slughorn was pointing to James, who was in the middle of a group of twenty girls around his age, most of whom were giggling nonstop and batting their eyelashes at him sickeningly.

Slughorn laughed heartily at the sight. "I recall a very similar scene in my office back when Sirius Black was his age."

Before Slughorn could continue his babbling, Snape went closer to the group of girls until he caught James's eye. He beckoned him over, and James told the girls, "Ladies, excuse me for a moment." He gave a winning smile to the girl closest to him, and she looked like she might possibly faint as she watched him move towards Snape.

"Professor, I've gotta say I have no clue what I did wrong this time," James said, sounding happy-go-lucky and curious at the same time.

Snape curled his lip in disapproval. It only spoke to James's character that he constantly suspected he was in trouble, even if he didn't remember what he was in trouble _for_. He caused so much mayhem that he couldn't even keep track of which teachers were upset at him at any given time. "The headmaster wishes for me to pass a message on to you. He would like you to go to his office immediately." Snape sneered in delight at the scared look on James's face. "What's the matter, Potter? Doesn't the all-mighty James Potter wish to face the consequences for his noble misdeeds? Why, even your grandfather wasn't afraid of something so trivial as a visit to Dumbledore's office." James looked at a loss for words.

"Severus?" Slughorn shouted. "I think it best if you escort him," he nodded to James, "to Dumbledore's office yourself. We wouldn't want a repeat of what happened last time with him making a detour and pretending he was never told to go there." Slughorn winked at James, who looked appalled.

"I'm fifteen! Sir, can I just go by myself?" James said quickly and nervously. But Slughorn gave him a slightly stern look and James said nothing more.

As they left the office, Snape saw Lily, who was with her family and friends in a corner, looking at James very suspiciously.

When they reached Dumbledore's office, Snape said the password ("sherbet lemon") and felt very annoyed by the fact that James was now a fifth year, and yet Snape actually needed to make sure James went all the way up the stairs leading to the office and entered the room, or else he'd run away as soon as Snape left.

When James entered the room, Snape was surprised to hear Dumbledore say, "Severus, it would be best if you stayed as well. I think your help with this - ah - particular situation would be most appreciated."

When Snape came in and sat down in a seat next to a tense James, Dumbledore began, "James, do you know why you are here?"

"No," James said a little too quickly.

Dumbledore smiled a little at this and continued, "It appears that your household has been receiving many phone calls." He paused there, looking expectantly at James, whose eyes widened.

"Who told my parents? Dominique would never -"

"It was your grandparents, who happened to stop by and become alarmed by the phone going off every few minutes. However, Miss Dominique Weasley was very unwilling to divulge the full details of whatever you have planned. So, it would be best for you to floo to your house and explain the situation yourself to both your parents and grandparents. And Professor Snape will be coming along with you because there is something he needs to attend to that seems to be related to the situation."

Snape was furious. Why was it that whenever James was in trouble, Snape had to become involved somehow? The boy's grandfather had been dead for decades, yet he had a namesake who was every bit like him and caused just as much trouble.

James took a deep breath, picked up some floo powder, and flooed to his house, Snape following suit.


	33. Chapter 33

As soon as Snape stepped out of the fireplace, he knew whatever was going on was definitely not going to turn out to be anything good. He was surprised that Harry and Ginny hadn't arrived yet, but he was curious to see how Harry would handle the situation and hoped Ginny would get an opportunity to scream at her loving son the day before the start of the winter holidays.

The arrival of James and Snape had gone unnoticed by James's grandmother and Dominique, who was standing protectively yet sheepishly in front of the house phone and resisting Mrs. Weasley's every attempt to get a solid answer out of her. However, Mr. Weasley and Snape nodded to each other, and James seemed to be avoiding Mr. Weasley's gaze as he brushed the ashes off of the navy blue dress robes that he had worn to Slughorn's party.

"James," said Mr. Weasley quietly, which caused Dominique and Mrs. Weasley to turn around and go silent.

"So - er - what's going on here?" James asked with a nervous smile, and Dominique narrowed her eyes at James.

"We actually asked you to come here to answer that question, funnily enough," Dominique said through gritted teeth before suddenly going off on a tangent. "This is my week off of my healer training, yet you didn't let me spend it in peace. You made me come here because you thought someone was going to leave a voicemail framing you for something and you didn't tell me what it was, and then suddenly I get a kajillion phone calls from random people about…You know what, James? Why don't _you_ tell them? And don't worry. I told the people who called that it's not happening, like you asked." Dominique finished.

James froze and gave another sheepish smile. "Uh -" he began, but then the fireplace roared and Harry and Ginny stepped out, causing the little progress James had made in coming clean to quickly vanish.

Harry and Ginny wearily looked around the room and took deep breaths before Harry said, "What's going on _now_? Honestly, James, you can't contain your misbehavior within Hogwarts castle? You need to bring it here, too?"

James gave a very big sigh. "Sorry, I'll - I'll explain. So, what happened was -"

The phone began ringing and James was cut off yet again. James stared at the phone that was next to him, and after a few seconds of contemplation, he started to reach for it, but Harry was quicker.

James watched in horror as Harry put the phone on speaker and greeted the person on the other end politely, "Hello? This is Harry Potter. How may I help you?"

There was complete silence on the other end of the line. Dominique was whispering happily and mischievously at the same time, "Oh, _snap, _James! Your dad isn't messing around!"

"Er - Is James Potter here?" came a girl's voice from the other end several seconds later.

"Yes, he is. May I ask who you are and why you're calling?"

"I - I'm in James's year and we're friends, so I just wanted to talk."

_ Likely story_, thought Snape, and he could see the same thought practically written across everyone else's faces.

"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you call his cell phone number instead?" Harry asked. Harry was really giving this girl the third degree, but considering this involved James, it seemed completely necessary to Snape.

"I didn't know if this was a home or cell n - number. This was just the number I was given."

Harry looked suspicious still, but he told her to hold on and then handed the phone to James.

"Hey, it's James." James's voice was sliding back into its easygoing nature, but his facial expression was still uncharacteristically nervous.

"Hi, it's Susanne, just wanted to let you know me and twenty other people agreed to come over for the party. Hazel said your parents would be gone by then, which is fifteen minutes from now, right?"

Ginny looked outraged. "A _party_?" she hissed. Harry looked as though he simply couldn't believe what was happening.

James avoided everyone's eyes as he quickly told Susanne, "Change of plans, no one's coming over, didn't everyone else tell you -"

"But Jay -" At this, Mrs. Weasley mouthed, "_Jay_?" confusedly, Dominique fought to bite back a snigger, and unwanted flashbacks of the boy's grandfather being called the same thing by his female admirers at the same age sprung to Snape's mind.

"Everyone's already sneaking out to Hogsmeade for the floo -" Susanne continued.

James's jaw literally dropped. "But Dominique told them not to come!"

"Well yeah, but Hazel told them she was lying and said Dominique was just jealous at not being invited and that she was trying to call everything off-"

James hung up the phone promptly.

Dominique's eyes were nearly popping out of her head in bewilderment. "That little vindictive _liar_!" Dominique said furiously. "I don't know what you see in that Hazel Vaisey -"

James walked over to the shelf in shame and stared at a photo of Lily as a baby, who was laughing as she pulled a toddler James's ice cream cone out of his hand. At the moment, James looked just as miserable as he'd been on that occasion.

Dominique suddenly grinned and said to James, "And you're throwing a _party_! With the intention of your parents not being around! Why didn't you tell me? Oh boy…Let's hear what Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, Grandma, Grandpa, and Professor Snape have to say about _this_! Oh, and why didn't you invite me, considering I'm your cousin-" but she was silenced by Mr. Weasley clearing his throat.

"James, please just come over here and tell us why you decided to do this -" said Mr. Weasley somewhat calmly.

"I _didn't_ decide to do this, it was -"

"How many people are coming, exactly?" Ginny interrupted.

"I dunno, probably all the fourth, fifth, and sixth years -"

There was a shocked silence in the room.

"You invited all the fourth, fifth, _and _sixth years?" Ginny inquired angrily.

"No, _I _didn't invite _anyone_, it was -"

But James was interrupted by the roaring of the fireplace once again.


	34. Chapter 34

Lily Potter emerged from the fireplace, angrily brushing the ashes off of her sparkly light pink dress. She walked at a rapid pace towards James, causing him to flinch, but surprisingly, she didn't actually hit him.

"James, where did all the _potions_ go?" Lily asked under her breath, but it was so quiet in the room that everyone heard.

"What do you mean? I thought Fred was keeping them hidden in the kitchens. Wait…Don't tell me." James looked at Harry and Ginny questioningly. "A box of potions got delivered to your mailboxes at the ministry…didn't they?"

"I was going to ask you about that, but then we got distracted by all this party-with-no-parents-at-home business," Harry said with the air of someone about to explode with frustration.

"Hold on a minute. Potions? James, what on earth are you up to?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

James sighed very deeply and then said, "Okay. I promise to tell you guys everything as long as we get one thing straight here. Hazel and Scorpius started it, Albus and Fred got caught up in the middle of it, and me and Lily are the main targets."

"Who's Hazel?" Ginny asked curiously.

James looked the slightest bit flustered as he considered his mother. "Well, she's the daughter of a quidditch player, Vaisey, from your school days -"

"And she's evil and manipulative -" Lily added in.

"She's a Slytherin in my year -"

"And wants to use me and James for her wicked schemes-"

"We're kinda friends -"

"Yet somehow James is obsessed with asking her out."

Ginny considered Lily and then gave James a no-nonsense look. "James, we will be discussing your interest in this Vaisey girl more in depth this week, since Dominique and Lily both seem to find her distasteful -"

"Mum! That's because they're girls and they're jealous of her! There's nothing wrong with her, not _really_." Dominique and Lily gave James astonished looks.

"James, I want to know exactly what kind of potions these are," Harry brought them back on track with a change of topic.

James was hesitant, and Lily looked at him expectantly. "Yeah, you guys didn't exactly get around to telling me what kind of potions they are."

"I don't know," James concluded, but Snape wasn't the only one who could detect James was avoiding the question.

"If you say so, James," Harry said coldly. "Professor Dumbledore brought Professor Snape here for a reason. So, being the former potions master, he'll be able to tell us just what these are and you won't be able to keep something else a secret from us." He opened up his briefcase, pulled out two vials of potions, and handed them to Snape.

After mere seconds of observation, Snape knew just what these were. "Love potions."

"Yeah, but I didn't sell them or make them, I didn't want you to think I was having anything to do with those sorts of potions, Scorpius and Hazel were trying to blackmail me and Lily by sending them to you -" James said quickly.

"Blackmail you in what way? And for what reason, precisely?" Snape asked.

"Because Scorpius is angry that Hazel broke up with him and thinks it's all because she's finally come to her senses and realized I'm the one for her," James stopped grinning when he saw the glares his parents were sending his way. "Basically, he's jealous of me. And Hazel is jealous of Lily."

"But James. Didn't you say this girl is in your year? Why would a fifth year be jealous of a second year?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Because Lily's always breaking up fights between me and Scorpius, so Hazel reckons Lily has a soft spot for him and doesn't want him to get hurt," James rolled his eyes and smirked, "Hazel is getting a bit off her rocker."

"I know! She is so _paranoid_. I don't break up fights just because Malfoy's in them. If she cared to notice, she'd see that I break up any fight that you and Fred get into with anyone," Lily said heatedly.

"So anyways, Albus overheard Scorpius and Hazel yesterday and they were planning to get you guys angry" James was speaking directly to Harry and Ginny "by arranging a party and sending love potions and are planning to get me and Lily in trouble by telling you that we were selling love potions at school and trying to use them on people at the party that we supposedly planned. Hazel has my home number from when we were talking over the summer, and she gave it to everyone so that they could RSVP from their magically powered cell phones, and so I tried to get Dominique to tell them the party's canceled and I got Fred to find the potions and hide them, but I guess they found them."

"You guys can deal with Vaisey and Malfoy when they get here, though, can't you?" Lily asked, looking from her parents to her grandparents to Snape.

"We most certainly can," Ginny responded.

The fireplace roared and several students spilled out of it. They were laughing and chatting until they stopped in their tracks and gazed in fear at the sheer amount of adults. More and more students came out of the fireplace, and they all had the same reaction.

Harry walked up to the last batch of students, and Scorpius and Hazel approached him at once.

"Mr. Potter!" Hazel exclaimed. "I'm glad you're here because there's a lot we have to tell you -"

Ginny gave a fake smile of kindness. "And you wouldn't believe just how much we'd like to hear it."


End file.
